


Chiaroscuro

by kurrent



Category: Cloak & Dagger (TV 2018), Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Deanoru Babies, Deanoru Moms, Domestic Deanoru, F/F, F/M, Feels, Goes Hard into AU Land, Good Girlfriends Support Each Other, Healthy Relationships, Injured Karolina, Minor Tandy Bowen & Tyrone Johnson, Mom Karolina, Mom Nico, Nico Swears A Lot, Pregnancy, Pregnant Karolina, Protective Nico, Romance, Runaways (TV 2017) Spoilers, They All Deserve Some Happiness, Written before season 3, deanoru - Freeform, post-season 2 finale, protective karolina
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2020-04-11 12:50:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 184,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19110022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurrent/pseuds/kurrent
Summary: A long look at Nico and Karolina at different times in their life together, and how their love and their family grow over the years.  It's not always easy, and that's okay, because they've got each other.  (And eventually babies.)  Sometimes they have to run, sometimes they have to fight, sometimes they have to hold each other and cry, but there are lots of moments where they get to enjoy being in love and with each other.  Written to give us lots more moments of these two together, because they deserve years and years of being together.Starts post-season-2 and goes many years into the future.  Canon compliant through season 2 but not with season 3, because I couldn't predict everything, so this spirals off into its own future.  Numerous OCs in the form of Nico's and Karolina's kids and grandkids.  Take this story for what it is; I'll do a post-season-3 story soon enough.





	1. Before Everything Changed

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be a not-so-short series of chapters looking at Nico and Karolina at different key points throughout their lives. 
> 
> I very happily dedicate this story to Lyrica Okano and Ginny Gardner, two amazing women whose bravery and authentic love for Nico and Karolina shine through in everything they do on Runaways. Thank you both for taking these two beloved characters to places we never thought we'd get to see and giving them the love and acceptance they deserve. All the happiness and love in the world to both of you. 
> 
> A second dedication goes to all those who, like me, saw part of themselves in Nico and Karolina. This story is my gift to all of you.

_I'm a punk rock prom queen_

_Brown paper magazine_

_Hotter than you've ever seen_

_Everywhere and in-between_

_I'm a ten-ticket thrill ride_

_Don't you wanna come inside_

_Five-star triple threat_

_Hardest of the hard to get_

_No one's little red corvette_

_Ain't seen nothing like me yet_

 

\--Josie and the Pussycats, “Three Small Words”

 

—O—

 

For almost her entire life, Karolina Dean had been afraid of the dark.

 

Maybe not a fear so strong as to be paralyzing, but the dark had always felt like something to be avoided, a source of discomfort. The dark felt _lonely_ , and young Karolina didn't like how that felt.

 

“We're beings of light, Karolina,” said her mother, in one of Karolina's earliest memories. “The dark isn't something to be afraid of so much as to be pitied, because it needs us to bring it light.”

 

“And... light... makes it happy?” a three-year-old Karolina had asked, her blanket pulled up to her chin as she shivered in her bed.

 

Leslie Dean's smile never faltered. She had had years to practice it. She smoothed some strays wisps of her tiny daughter's pale blonde hair back into place. “The light brings it peace,” Leslie softly spoke, the subtle correction an at-the-time unrecognized sign of what Karolina's childhood would be.

 

“So the light _does_ make it happy,” young Karolina had said, smiling.

 

“The dark can never be happy, Karolina,” Leslie corrected, her patient, condescending smile never flickering. “Because it can never be the light. Not like we can.” Leslie's smile grew slightly. “Not like _you_ can.”

 

Young Karolina smiled, content in her mother's love and voice. “Can you check my night lights?” she asked, clutching her blankets again.

 

“Please,” said her mother patiently.

 

“Please,” Karolina said obediently.

 

Leslie smiled. “Of course,” she said, leaning forward and kissing Karolina's forehead. “I love you, Karolina.”

 

“Love you too, Mommy.”

 

Leslie stopped and made sure the night light on the wall to Karolina's right, shaped in the design of the Church of Gibborim's logo, was on. She turned off the lamp next to Karolina's bed, then crossed the spacious room. She stopped beside the open bedroom door, bending over quickly to check the other night light, a plain white star that already glowed with a soft light.

 

Leslie paused at the door. “Good night, Karolina. Remember, you carry the light within you.”

 

The young blonde nodded, then rolled over onto her right side. From this angle she could watch the Gibborim night light until she fell asleep, confident that the light would protect her from the dark.

 

—O—

 

The whole time Karolina spends in stasis (Days? Weeks? She has no idea.), she just... is.

 

It's not that she's constantly in the darkness, although that wouldn't be a problem. Not now. It's just that she's in _nothing_. There's no sensation, nothing to see except the abstract patterns of afterimages her retinas project onto the blank canvas of the void, nothing to hear except the dull, unconscious ring of disorientation in those flashes where she is coherent enough to pay attention.

 

In the spare moments where she can form a thought, Karolina finds it bitterly humorous that once again she's trapped in a void, this time physical instead of emotional. It's still a hellish place where no one truly hears her, no one truly sees her, no one truly touches her, except in the most superficial and vapid of ways. It's enough to bring her to tears, were her body able to cry in stasis.

 

But it can't.

 

At least she isn't afraid of the dark anymore. How could she be, now that she was in love with it?

 

—O—

 

When her time in stasis finally ends, she initially has no idea what's occurring. There's a painful brightness, which never used to bother her, but now the brilliance of simple light is stabbing her in the eyes, and she feels like there are weights on her chest when she tries to breathe. She feels an overwhelming pressure against her legs, not realizing that it's her own weight as someone tries to stand her up, until she feebly collapses to the hard floor.

 

Then she hears a voice, and everything else becomes unimportant.

 

“ _Follow the leader.”_

 

She remembers that voice, searches the cobwebbed spaces of her sluggish thoughts to place the person speaking. The voice is firm, commanding despite having a velvety quality to it as well, and hearing it makes Karolina's heart warm in a way that feels both unfamiliar and so, so right.

 

The force of the floor pressing against her limp body drops away, and she feels the cool caress of air blowing across her face, her arms, her legs, her stomach as she floats through the air, tugged along by something she can't recognize, and of course her eyes still haven't adjusted to let her see anything more than blobs of color and painful light.

 

Even through all that murkiness of what her perceptions are at the moment, a voice floats to the top of her thoughts, saying something she can't make out. Karolina's fairly sure that the raspy voice she hears next is hers.

 

“Ni... co...”

 

The syllables tumble across her lips automatically, and she tries to remember what they mean. The sensation of air blowing across her skin stops, and then that _really_ annoying light goes away, replaced by the soothing blackness of something blocking the light from stabbing into Karolina's wincing eyes.

 

“Hey.”

 

It's just a voice, softer than a few minutes (seconds?) ago, but it's right in front of her face, and then something's wrong with her eyes, because they're leaking some fluid and stinging, and then there's this pressure on her cheek, and—

 

Karolina hears herself sob, and she knows inside her jumbled brain that's still waking up that the warmth on her cheek, the sticky sensation of lip color against her skin, is someone kissing her, and it's breaking her fucking heart that she can't lift her head up enough to meet those lips with her own and kiss this woman back, because Karolina knows, absolutely _knows_ , that she is totally in love with this woman.

 

“We're getting you out of here, baby, okay? We've already gotten Chase, Gert and Old Lace back. Now we're getting you.”

 

There's a sensation of fingers and skin and warmth against Karolina's forehead, then another kiss, this time on her lips, and Karolina would almost be willing to go back into stasis if it meant she could focus only on this moment, this sensation of soft, sticky lips pressed against her own for the rest of time.

 

She tries to nod, but she has no idea if she's successful or not. She opens her mouth to tell this woman with the amazing voice that she loves her, but her throat is raw and painful when she tries to move air across her vocal cords.

 

“Don't try to talk, Kar. Just know that you're safe, and that we're taking you home.”

 

The impossibly loud clap of noise that smashes into Karolina's ringing ears hits her immediately after the softer _thud_ of something hitting something else, just in front of her. This startles her, but her body is still weak to do anything more than shiver weakly, not until the shout of pain erupts just in front of her face.

 

Someone's been shot. And despite all the brain fog, Karolina wants to scream.

 

More shots assault her sensitive ears, angry and shattering the silence, and with one of them comes a searing pain somewhere between Karolina's waist and feet; her legs still aren't working right, and she can't really place exactly what part of her body is hurting now, only that something _is_.

 

There's an angry hiss of breath being inhaled centimeters away from Karolina's face, followed by a breeze of air being displaced by movement registering across Karolina's lips and nose, possibly a tickle of fabric brushing against her face. Then the voice she knows she loves is back, and this time there's no softness, no kindness to be heard in that voice, only livid syllables of rage that drip with power as they slice through the air.

 

“BURN—IN— _HELL!!”_

 

Karolina's fuzzy on what happens next. She hears screams, lots and lots of screams, screams that seem to go on for years before finally choking off. There's intense heat that licks her face, a dry, hot wind that blows her hair and makes her skin tingle uncomfortably. There's a strange smell that irritates her nose like pepper but smells like ash and burning oil. There's a grinding, a rumbling that she can feel as well as hear, that makes her teeth hurt as long as she can hear it, that starts while the screams are still a chorus and continues until the last note of pain has faded out, leaving only the soft ringing in her ears.

 

She hears a different voice, this one soft and hesitant, a girl or woman but young regardless, who barely whispers, “Nico...”

 

There's no reply, nothing audible at least, and Karolina is lying there, eagerly listening for that voice that makes her blood heat.

 

“You need to go to a hospital,” says another voice, this one male, normally confident (Karolina doesn't remember how she knows that, but she does) yet suffused with trepidation right now.

 

There's another pause, and Karolina wishes desperately for something, anything, to tell her what's going on. Her limbs are still useless; whatever the fuck was done to her, she's _never_ felt this weak or helpless, not even that time she had mono in the sixth grade.

 

“No,” says that voice she had been listening for, the voice that instantly has Karolina's full attention, but now she can hear the inflection of pain in even that single word.

 

“You've been—”

 

“I said NO, Chase!” A pause, then, “I'm not leaving her. Don't... don't ask me to do that. Please.”

 

Karolina hears the soft clomping of footfalls, and the breeze begins to blow across her face and arms again. They're moving once more.

 

Now a different voice speaks up. “Nico, that looks bad.” His voice (because Karolina knows it's a he, and for some reason his voice stirs a pang of irritation in her heart) is clearly worried, the tight concern in his words clearly audible to someone who's only focusing on sound.

 

“It's not around anything vital. It'll heal. Karolina is our main priority right now. The fucking bastard drained her so much that it nearly killed her.”

 

“Um, maybe we should take both of you to a hospital,” says the first male voice. “Karolina looks pale as a ghost.”

 

“Hospital's aren't safe. Not now. We've stirred up too much too fast. We... we have to get her home. She needs sunlight. That helps her recover. She needs to rest. She needs...”

 

 _You,_ Karolina's mind supplied, but she couldn't speak the word, so instead the rush of thoughts just washed over her rapid-fire _. Dark hair. Dark brown eyes. Black clothes. Black lace. Sharp, spiky accessories. Dark fingernails and toenails. Dark eye shadow. Dark lips that pouted and smiled and tightened into straight lines that silently indicated back-the-fuck-off. Love. Warmth. Care. Hugs. Kisses. Attitude. Sass. Sex._ She needs NICO, who is all of that and more to Karolina.

 

Now she remembers. She remembers it all.

 

“You...” she manages to breathe out, and somehow she does it during one of those painful silences in the conversation going on around her. She focuses, ignoring the burning in her throat and sourness in her mouth. “Need... you...”

 

There's a warmth that Karolina can feel pressing against her forehead, on her nose, on her lips, and then that beautiful, stubborn, sharp voice is back. “You've got me, baby,” the words spoken softly, reverently, just a hair's breadth away. “You've got me forever.”

 

Karolina stops fighting the blackness and lets herself fall back into blissful nothing, a smile weakly stretching across her face as she passes out again.

 

—O—

 

When Karolina finally stirs, light no longer burns her retinas, but her arms and legs still feel like all the muscles and bones in them have been scooped out and replaced with wet sand.

 

She feels deliciously warm, and she starts to try to sit up before she registers that something is lying on her chest. Well, lying _against_ her chest. Her whole left side, really, up to about her breast, because that's where Nico's head stops, resting just below Karolina's clavicle. There's a distressingly large, bulky bandage wrapped around Nico's left upper arm, and a decidedly disturbing amount of dried blood that's soaked through most of the white wrap and gauze, but other than that the diminutive sorceress looks her usual self, a black camisole top and black sweat pants with silver pentacles printed all over them. (Seriously, where did she even find something like that?)

 

Karolina feels like she's being bathed in a warm glow, and it's not just where Nico is snuggled up beside her. She manages, barely, to lift her head. The movement causes Nico's breathing to pause for a few seconds; Karolina's mentally kicking herself, but then the soft, easy breathing resumes again, the only sign of Nico's ever being disturbed the way the dark-haired woman's left hand tightens its grip on the waist band of Karolina's very short sleep shorts.

 

Now Karolina can see an absolutely ridiculous arrangement of mirrors around her and Nico's bed, two large floor-standing mirrors and a smaller cosmetic mirror that's been placed on a slender wooden nightstand moved nearly to the far wall. The mirrors have been positioned so that they're redirecting sunlight directly onto Karolina from the large multi-paned window high on the wall above their bed, and it feels amazing to the blonde, like she's bathing in sunshine.

 

“Hey,” comes a sleepy voice from the vicinity of Karolina's left armpit.

 

Karolina doesn't consciously smile at the sight of Nico blinking her raccoon eyes, kohl smudged haphazardly on her temples and cheeks, but she smiles anyway, because Nico Minoru with a face full of disheveled makeup, sleepy mahogany eyes and rebellious hair the color of a moonless light jutting and spiking in all directions at once...

 

It's irresistible.

 

Not that Karolina would ever try to resist it.

 

Karolina just stares at her girlfriend with what has to be the most ridiculous expression, because she literally has no idea what kind of face she's making, but Nico just keeps smiling at her, those brown eyes so, so full of love and adoration, and never _once_ does the jet-haired woman's smile flicker or fade. She just keeps smiling, and then that smile slightly widens, and Karolina can see the mirth trying to fight its way out of Nico's usually airtight grip on her emotions, the little twitches and quivers playing out on the muscles of her girlfriend's face, until finally those lips spread and part, and Nico's teeth show in one of the biggest grins Karolina's ever seen, and it makes everything shitty that's ever happened to Karolina over her entire fucked-up life absolutely, one-hundred-percent worth it.

 

“I love you,” says this raspy voice that Karolina only recognizes as hers because it burns her throat, and the response from the other woman is immediate, if a bit unexpected.

 

Nico's eyes suddenly well with tears, and for a painful second Karolina wonders if she got the words wrong, if maybe she said Nico needed to brush her teeth or something equally mortifying, until Nico's dark lips, still smudged with dark purple in the corners, part, and Karolina hears that silky, sultry voice reply.

 

“I love you, too.”

 

Then everything feels right again. Nico's hand comes up and gently cups Karolina's cheek.

 

“You need to go back to sleep. I put us in a healing spell, but we need to rest for it to fully work.”

 

Karolina nods. She's starting to feel a bit of pressure in her bladder, but it's minor. Nothing that's worth making Nico move, because nothing is worth disturbing this.

 

“Close those beautiful blue eyes, baby, okay? I'm not going anywhere.”

 

Karolina feels her heart swell with happiness and pride at the grim, fearsome Nico Minoru calling her “baby”, followed by the sensation of Nico's body somehow sliding closer to her, of Nico's head once again resting on Karolina's chest, pausing only to place a soft kiss on her breast— _right fucking ON her nipple, thank you for that, Miss Minoru, now how am I supposed to go back to sleep_ —and Nico's left arm reaching protectively across Karolina's belly, her hand curling around Karolina's hip, the thumb lightly stroking the exposed ridge of Karolina's hip bone.

 

Karolina had always been doted upon, treated like a messiah-in-waiting, expected to be the perfect child and never failing to live up to that expectation. She had been the golden child of Gibborim, the heir to the church following her mother. She had never wanted for anything material. Ever.

 

But she had never known what happiness _truly_ was until right now.

 

In her darkest moment, when she was lost and utterly defenseless, Nico and their family had found her. They had saved her. They had brought her home.

 

And this _was_ her home. Right here, in this abandoned hotel, in this room with haphazard decorations, falling curtains, smudged windows and dusty floors. Wrapped in the arms of a very complicated, very prickly, very loving witch who hid her feelings beneath layers of dark fabric and intricate makeup but was brave enough to open up, to make herself vulnerable so she could share those messy, complicated, intense feelings with Karolina.

 

This was where Karolina belonged. This was where she felt safe.

 

This was the home she and her family had made their own, and this is where the rest of her life begins.

 

That thought comforts her as she dozes off once more.

 

—O—

 

It was another full day before she and Nico made love again.

 

For the first day she was back at the Hostel and most of the second, she and Nico slept the entire time. Nico had to get up to pee once, but Karolina's body was so drained that she didn't feel that particular urge until late the second night, shortly after Nico had made her wake up and drink some Gatorade.

 

It was ridiculously silly, but Karolina refused to drink the fruit punch Gatorade Nico tried to give her, instead insisting on claiming the remaining two-thirds of the bottle of orange Gatorade Nico had just set down after taking a drink. She wanted her lips to be where Nico's lips had been, to share what was Nico's, because Nico was her girlfriend, and she was Nico's, and girlfriends shared things like that.

 

She _might_ have preened a bit when Nico gave in without argument.

 

Getting to the toilet in their _en suite_ bathroom, however, was a challenge. Nico tried to help Karolina there, but the blonde's height combined with Nico's injured left arm made it a near-disaster when Karolina nearly collapsed on top of Nico. It took yelling for Molly to get Karolina to the toilet; the curly-haired girl effortlessly carried Karolina to the toilet, then patiently waited outside the bathroom to carry her back to the bed, depositing her carefully on the sunken-in patch that her and Nico's bodies had pressed into the mattress.

 

By the time Nico had finished in the bathroom, Karolina was sprawled out on the bed and Molly had retreated out of their room, closing the door behind her.

 

Nico climbed onto the bed, kneeling beside Karolina and taking in the sight of her girlfriend, exhausted but _alive_ , in their bed. And pouting.

 

“I love lying in bed with you, but I'm bored,” Karolina said. She tried to make her voice extra pouty, but it just came out as weak. “I want to do something.”

 

Nico's eyebrows raised slightly. “You're not getting out of this bed for at least another day,” she said firmly.

 

The smirk that curled across Karolina's lips set Nico's heart racing.

 

“I'm not planning on getting out of this bed,” Karolina murmured confidently. “And neither are you.”

 

The hand that grasped Nico's camisole and tugged her down toward the blonde certainly didn't seem as weak as before, and Nico certainly wasn't offering any resistance.

 

“Are you sure you're up for this?” Nico asked cautiously. “I mean, physically.”

 

“Are you telling me you don't want it?” asked Karolina, not relaxing her grip on Nico's shirt.

 

“Oh, FUCK no,” Nico breathed out. “I am _totally_ wanting it. I just don't want to wipe you out, now that you're starting to recover.”

 

Karolina grinned. “Mmm, why, Miss Minoru, that sounds like a challenge to me.”

 

“Oh yeah?”

 

“Yeah. Think you can 'wipe me out'?”

 

Nico let herself topple forward, catching herself on her outstretched hands to either side of Karolina's head, their faces a centimeter apart. It felt like liquid fire in her newly healed left upper arm when she put pressure on that arm, but she ignored it for Karolina. “Oh, I know I can,” she said, and the desire and confidence saturating her voice made Karolina's insides melt.

 

Marshaling what tiny little scraps of resistance that she could to prolong the foreplay, Karolina stared up into Nico's eyes, those dark brown rims nearly swallowed by the wide pupils. “Prove it,” she said as firmly as she could, feeling her heart skip as she saw the defiance flash in Nico's eyes before the more common emotion softened with a look of worship and adoration that was given to no one but Karolina.

 

Nico's head dropped low enough for her lips to press against Karolina's, both mouths immediately opening to deepen the kiss—until Karolina abruptly pulled back, pressing the back of her head into the pillow beneath her.

 

“Oh my God,” Karolina breathed out, suddenly mortified at realizing that she hadn't brushed her teeth in who knows how long. “My breath must smell like sewage!”

 

“I don't fucking care,” Nico breathed out. Her arms were starting to shake as desire and emotion rose to a boil inside her, and her head eased down to kiss Karolina again.

 

“I do,” Karolina replied, turning her head to the side so that Nico's attempt to kiss her met her cheek instead. “The first time we make love in—how long has it been?”

 

“Just over two weeks,” Nico replied, the expression on her face shifting into want, and need, and _ohmygod was Nico Minoru about to POUT?_

 

“Just over two weeks,” Karolina repeated, “and my mouth is _not_ going to taste like a sweaty ass when we make love.”

 

“Oh, is that the issue?” Nico said, surprisingly unconcerned. “First, I want to kiss you crazy, so I don't care about your breath—”

 

“I _do!”_

 

“—And second, I got your back.” Nico sat up and thrust her right arm out to her side. A second later, the Staff of One met her hand with a soft smack. Nico's fingers, black lacquer on each nail, curled around the Staff as a smile spread across her face. _“Minty fresh!”_ she said, with the Staff's circular top flashing and crackling with yellow electricity.

 

Karolina's mouth tingled, followed by the sensation descending over her entire body, causing her to shiver for a second.

 

She didn't feel so grungy anymore. She tried to taste her breath, pleased to see that there was no lingering acrid sensation in her mouth, as there had been seconds earlier. She looked up to see Nico looking insufferably smug, straddling Karolina's waist.

 

“God, you look so proud,” Karolina teased, unable to keep from smiling as she said it.

 

Nico shrunk the Staff back down to its smaller size, then she carefully tossed it into the nearest mostly-empty chair, onto a pile of her clothes. “Why wouldn't I be proud?” she said, leaning forward and returning to her previous position hovering just over Karolina's face. “I just removed the one thing keeping my girlfriend from having sex with me.”

 

Karolina grinned. She was able to reach up with her right arm and caress Nico's cheek, then slide her fingers into Nico's hair, softly gripping the shorter black locks in the way that she knew Nico loved. “I suppose you've earned the right to be proud,” she admitted, before lifting her head to kiss Nico.

 

After trading kisses and shifting positions with their mouths a few times, Nico pulled back to catch her breath, her gaze never leaving Karolina's soft blue eyes. “Damn right,” she breathed out, before settling back down to resume kissing the most beautiful woman she had ever seen.

 

—O—

 

Xavin left that night.

 

In a very human gesture, she left a note, taped onto the door to Karolina's and Nico's room.

 

“ _My dearest Karolina,_

 

_I see now that your heart is already taken. I am unsure what this means for the prophecy, but I am sure that were I to stay, it would only cause you pain, and that I could not bear._

 

_I am not sure where I will go. I say this not to make you worry, but to be honest. I have some resources from the Church, so I will not want, but I am now unsure of my way, to say nothing of the prophecy. Was it just another lie from one who deceived us all?_

 

_I will return one day, but it will not be as your intended. I was initially dismissive of your choice of mate, but now I see that she has both love for you and power to stand by your side. She will make a fine mate, and I wish both of you happiness._

 

_When the time comes, I would like you to meet your brother or sister, the life that I gestate inside me. I hope you will be willing to do that much for me and for my child, and perhaps you might gain something of such a meeting as well._

 

_I wish you and your pack success in your struggle against the Pride and the specter of Jonah. Perhaps the day will come when I can do more to help you, but for now, I feel my best course of action is to trust you to live your own life, to find your own happiness, as far from the plots and machinations of others as possible._

 

_X”_

 

Karolina cried for nearly an hour, as Nico held her. Xavin had been as much a victim of Jonah as the rest of them. There was nothing to say, so Nico didn't try. She simply held her girlfriend and warred internally with the twin feelings of relief and guilt inside her.

 

—O—

 

Later that night, they lay in bed, Nico holding Karolina from behind, her right hand clasped to Karolina's chest, held by both of Karolina's hands.

 

“I...” Nico began, unsure if Karolina was asleep or not. The blonde's breathing was soft and slow, so she likely was, but Nico felt like if she didn't voice this now, the thoughts would fester inside her. “I... wanted her gone,” she said softly. “I didn't want her to come between us.”

 

Nico felt Karolina lightly squeeze her hand.

 

“She wouldn't have,” Karolina said, her voice slow and just above a whisper.

 

“I hope not,” Nico continued. “But... I worried she would. Because you care _so much_ , Karolina, your heart is so big, and so loving, and I was worried that she'd use that to make you feel guilty, to make you uncomfortable in our relationship.”

 

Karolina didn't reply, but Nico could tell from the soft sniffle that her girlfriend was likely crying.

 

Nico closed her own eyes. “But even with all of that, I didn't want her to be alone. We... we could have protected her. Her and her baby. Here.”

 

“But she knew that we would never fully trust her,” said Karolina. “Because we couldn't have. She had been one of Jonah's followers. And this prophecy she believed? That's a bunch of shit.”

 

Karolina shifted, releasing Nico's hand and rolling over to face her girlfriend. Even in the dark, Nico could see her watery eyes, but the look on Karolina's face was firm.

 

“I decide whom I love,” Karolina said. “Not anyone else, and _definitely_ not some fucking prophecy.”

 

Nico smiled. How she wound up with this incredible woman, she'd never know. But she would never take Karolina and her love for granted.

 

“I chose you, Nico,” Karolina said, finding Nico's hand, threading their fingers together and lifting those joined hands to kiss Nico's knuckles. “I _choose_ you. Please don't ever doubt that.”

 

Nico shivered once. “I'm... not using to getting good things,” she admitted softly. “And you are the best thing I've ever had in my life. Please don't hold it against me if I feel I don't deserve you.”

 

Karolina smiled sadly. “I guess I'll just have to convince you that you deserve me, yeah?”

 

The blonde's head slid forward to press her lips against Nico, kissing her lover tenderly. “Can I hold you tonight?” she asked.

 

“I _guess_ ,” Nico said, frowning and doing such a good job of acting put out that Karolina was about to push her arm away before Nico grinned.

 

“You shit,” Karolina swore softly, laughing once.

 

Nico continued to grin as she turned over, waiting until Karolina had slid next to her, wrapping her left arm across Nico's waist and a long leg across Nico's thighs. A hand softly slid up Nico's torso, fingers slipping under the loose sleep shirt and gently cupping Nico's bare right breast.

 

“Comfy?” Nico asked over her shoulder, secretly loving the warmth and security of being wrapped up in Karolina but not wanting to say it out loud.

 

There was a happy sigh from behind the black-haired woman. “Much,” breathed Karolina. She lightly pressed down on Nico's right nipple with the tip of her index finger before going back to just holding Nico's small breast. “You fit perfectly in my arms, you know.”

 

Nico closed her eyes, smiling into her pillow. “Yeah,” she said. “I do.”

 

—O—

 

The next five months went by, slowly at first, then accelerating in a way none of them could have predicted.

 

Stealing became an ethical burden, growing increasingly uncomfortable for all of them as time passed.

 

Alex tapped into one of Wizard's expense accounts, siphoning off just under three hundred thousand dollars and transferring it to a different account, then another, then another before Wizard's IT personnel caught what he was doing and locked him out. But before Chase could withdraw the money from a physical bank location, Wizard had somehow undone Alex's own magic. Nico was sure that her mother had some sort of magic even without the Staff, be it financial, digital or arcane, that she had used to undo Alex's work, but none of them could prove it.

 

Chase's mother Janet, whom they had also freed when they rescued Chase, Gert and Old Lace, managed to set up a side account and transfer several thousand dollars to Chase, keeping the transfer under the threshold the retooled Pride had set up for flagging financial transactions in the Los Angeles area. It was enough money to provide food and basic household supplies for a few weeks, but it was becoming increasingly evident that an ongoing revenue stream had to be established, and soon.

 

The healing spell that Nico had used on Karolina and herself had definitely been impressive. By the third day she was back home, Karolina was able to walk (carefully) and eat some quinoa and sushi. By the end of the week, she was able to fly again, though she felt taxed after ten minutes or so. The sunlight baths helped, and she thanked Alex and Gert, who had planned and rigged up the elaborate series of mirrors. Nico also appreciated Karolina lying in the sunlight (apparently Majesdanians couldn't get sunburned because they absorbed the sun's radiation), because that meant her girlfriend wore minimal or no clothing for a significant chunk of the day, which Nico took advantage of frequently... until she got a sunburn on her back, butt and the back of her legs.

 

(“Surprised it didn't get the back of your head, too,” Chase had crowed once Nico had begrudgingly told the others at dinner, given away by her hiss of pain when she sat down at the table.

 

“Oh, _that_ was between my legs,” Karolina had instantly shot back in defense of her uncharacteristically blushing girlfriend.)

 

The healing spell had knitted Nico's left humerus, which had been shattered by a bullet during their rescue of Karolina, back together in less than a day. However, the Staff didn't want to repeat the spell again, so Nico had to heal from the rather uncomfortable sunburns the regular way. Having Karolina rub aloe on the burned places did make a nice consolation prize, at least.

 

Perhaps the most surprising development over those months was the detente that seemed to have developed between the Runaways and the remnants of the Pride. Victor/Jonah had vanished, driven away after Alex and Chase worked together to build a device that used infrasonic waves and evoked visual potentials to free Tina, Stacey and Jonah's other victims from their psychic possession. Once that had been accomplished, the two sides had cautiously gone their own ways. There were no attempts at kidnapping any more of the Runaways, and in return, there were no further attacks on any Pride assets, minus the attempted financial fleecing of Wizard.

 

As such, things at the Hostel were actually becoming... boring.

 

—O—

 

Gert was the first to get a job. It was during one of her and Chase's off-again phases, when she followed a whim and applied for a job at a coffee shop. Her insistence that she be paid in cash, which she had anticipated would render her unemployable, was readily accepted, leading her to suspect that either the manager had a thing for purple hair or the place couldn't keep employees.

 

Both turned out to be correct.

 

That job lasted all of a week and a half. When given a choice between Chase leveling the place with his Fistigons or Gert taking matters into her own hands, she chose the latter, handing her foul-mouthed, handsy boss a large coffee with caramel, as hot as she could make it, in a cup with the name _“Fuck You, You Racist Misogynistic Lecherous Sexually Harassing Intolerant Piece of Cis-Het Patriarchal Shit—I Quit!”_ neatly lettered over nearly the entire cup.

 

She let him read the whole thing before slapping it out of his hands and onto his pants and shoes.

 

When he tried to hit her, she ducked (self-defense lessons had been a worthwhile investment), punched him in the balls, then sprayed him in the face with pepper spray for good measure.

 

Most of the rest of the jobs went fairly well.

 

Alex got a work-from-home job by watching and analyzing online gaming streams, then decoding and writing a program that scanned for hacking and cheating mods and bots in various MOBAs and MMORPGs. Several large corporations were more than willing to pay him monthly licensing fees to use his software to catch those trying to exploit the games.

 

Chase responded to an online ad seeking physical protection for the exotic dancers at a strip club called Fuzzy Peach. An evangelical group had started protesting the club, and over the last two weeks the puritanical protesters had been edging closer and closer to overt violence. As it happened, the afternoon Chase arrived to interview, three of the church's more aggressive congregants left the protest line and attacked one of the bouncers as he was escorting two of the dancers from their cars. Chase physically tackled the largest and most aggressive of the assailants, then landed a few solid punches to the other two to put them down as well. By the time the burliest man got back to his feet, the Fistigons were on. Three energy blasts later, the attackers were en route to the hospital and the protesters had dispersed, pledging to be back with more members the next night.

 

They came back with three times as many protesters, bringing ball bats, clubs, chains and nearly a dozen white supremacists who had been quietly infiltrating the church.

 

Chase came back with Molly.

 

Once everything was over, the ambulances had left and most of the fires had been put out, the club was still standing and in good shape, minus a few broken windows, all the dancers and patrons of the club were unharmed, save for the one older man hit by the initial rock that started the mini-riot, and no less than eighty “good Christian” people and ten white supremacists found themselves seeking medical care at one of Los Angeles County's many after-hours healthcare facilities. Chase had a decent-sized cut on his left temple, though the grateful exotic dancers had been happy to coo and fret over him; he was enough of a gentleman to politely maintain eye contact with each of the kind women when they were fussing over him. Molly's shirt had a few bullet holes in it, courtesy of the neo-Nazis; she hadn't been aware that she was bulletproof when using her powers, but she knew now. Honestly, she was more mad about the ear being ripped off one of her favorite hats, and it had taken some _very_ quick talking from Chase to keep her from returning the favor to the man who had vandalized her toboggan.

 

After the fracas, one of the tow truck drivers offhandedly guessed that over half of the wreckers working that night in Los Angeles had been called out to the scene before it was all over. The protesters had carpooled, but they had still brought over thirty cars and motorcycles, blocking the street on both sides of the club right before the fighting began.

 

It turned out that Molly _really_ liked throwing cars.

 

Nico and Karolina had the worst luck with jobs. Karolina made decent money doing some modeling shoots at first, but after the third time she had to leave a shoot due to a photographer trying to grope her or suggest indecent ways she could “make a little extra money,” she swore off modeling forever.

 

After the last time it happened, which had been a particularly disgusting experience from which she had literally run out, she was reading the morning paper when she read an article on the third page, detailing a mysterious fire at that very same studio she had fled the day before. The fire department was at a loss, unable to explain how a building made entirely of brick, steel and concrete could catch fire and burn to the ground, leaving only oddly powdered ashes, but multiple eyewitnesses swore that was exactly what had happened.

 

One neighborhood resident who was interviewed for the article declared that it had been a good thing, because the photographer was a well-known lecherous man who preyed on young, impressionable girls and coerced them into sex acts, many of which he would film or photograph. The few women over the years who had publicly accused the man of sexually assaulting them always dismissed their lawsuits or settled out of court, leading to whispers that he was threatening or blackmailing them.

 

She was nearly through the article, her heart pounding with both fury at this predator's actions and relief that she had escaped, when Nico came into the kitchen, holding a steaming cup of coffee in a mug that read YES I CAN, making Karolina smile.

 

“Interesting article in the paper this morning,” she said casually as Nico pulled out a chair directly across the large dining table from Karolina.

 

“Oh yeah?” Nico smoothly asked, not looking up from her coffee. She hadn't slept much last night. Things had needed to be done.

 

“Mm hmm. Seems that asshole photographer who propositioned me yesterday had his whole studio burn down last night.”

 

“How about that.” Nico took a careful sip of the black coffee. “Told you he was a fucking creep.”

 

“Total loss, the fire department says. His whole business and all his personal effects.”

 

There was a short pause as Nico took a small swallow of the strong, bitter coffee. “Maybe he fucked with the wrong person.”

 

Karolina glanced over the top edge of the paper at Nico, who was playing with a long strand of her hair, staring off into the next room. “Maybe,” she said quietly, trying not to smile. Her girlfriend was the best. “Did you know that bricks can catch on fire?”

 

There was a pause as Nico took a longer sip of the still-steaming coffee. She licked her lips once before speaking. “There's some strange shit out there.”

 

“Mm. Were you working last night?”

 

“Got fired.”

 

Now the paper dropped down. Karolina felt anger build inside at the thought of someone being mean to her girlfriend. “You got _fired?!”_

 

“Yep.”

 

“But I thought Billy liked you!”

 

“He did. Still does. But he said I was scaring away all the customers.”

 

The look on Karolina's face, normally so open and loving, was practically combusting with fury. “He runs a fucking PET STORE! How do you scare people away from a pet store?!”

 

In a total reversal of positions, Nico actually smiled happily as she leaned forward, resting her right arm on the dining table and her head in the palm of her upturned right hand as she gazed proudly at Karolina. “You look _so_ cute when you get all righteously angry,” she said, and though she'd've denied it, the look on Nico's face was completely dreamy.

 

Karolina, however, was currently too mad at Nico's boss. Former boss. She fumed silently for a few seconds, then she reached across the large table to take Nico's left hand. “I'm so sorry, Nico.”

 

“Ah, it's okay. Kinda creeped me out too, the way all the birds and rodents kept watching me. Any time I walked down the aisle or was around them, the birds would all shut up and just watch me, all their dumb heads following me until I was out of sight. The mice would all run and hide in their little houses.”

 

“That's... a bit strange,” Karolina admitted.

 

“And all the snakes wanted me to pet them. Kept trying to get out of their cages. Cats, too. They practically climbed the walls to try and get out and follow me.”

 

“What about the dogs?”

 

Nico shrugged. “Eh, they're dogs. They acted as dumb and lovable as always. Treated me like everybody else.”

 

“He's still a dick for firing you.”

 

“I'll find another job.”

 

Karolina smiled again. “Shame there isn't a market for vigilantes who burn down the places of business of sexual predators who hurt and blackmail women.”

 

The barest hint of a satisfied smile tugged at the corners of Nico's mouth. “It'd be a niche market.”

 

Karolina gave Nico's hand another squeeze, then she sat back in her chair, lifting her paper again.

 

“Molly wants to get a job now.”

 

Nico looked up from a scratch on one of the black and red sigils on her fingernails. It _might_ have been from a tooth. “Oh yeah?”

 

“She said it's not fair that all the rest of us work and bring in money but she isn't allowed to do the same.”

 

“She's fifteen.”

 

Karolina paused for a moment, glad that the newspaper was hiding her smile. “She's already had a job offer.”

 

“Paper route? She could throw the hell out of a newspaper.”

 

It was a statement so ludicrous and unexpected that Karolina burst into a fit of giggling laughter, making Nico slightly concerned.

 

“Kar? You okay?”

 

The newspaper shook forcefully as the blonde convulsed with laughter, taking a few seconds to get herself back under control. Her eyes were watering as she finally breathed in deeply and looked up, those bright blue eyes shining with delight as she looked at Nico again. “God, that was _totally_ not what I was expecting you to say,” she managed to say as she wiped at her eyes with her fingertips. “But _so_ funny.”

 

Nico stood, bringing her coffee with her as she walked around the long table, not stopping until she was right next to Karolina. She set her coffee mug down on the table and pulled out the nearest chair, taking a seat beside the happy blonde that had no right to be as gorgeous as she was.

 

Nico took Karolina's right hand and lifted it to her lips, placing a tender kiss on the back of the hand. “I love it when you laugh,” Nico said, the honesty making her voice raw in a way that sent shivers down Karolina's spine.

 

The blonde smiled back. “I love it when you make me laugh,” she replied, reaching out to Nico, who obligingly leaned in, meeting Karolina as she did the same. They kissed softly, lips pressing together for several seconds as each of them wondered how she could possibly have been so lucky as to get such a wonderful woman for a partner.

 

“Gross,” said Molly as she padded into the dining room, rubbing her own sleepy eyes. The monster feet slippers she was wearing had once made little crushing noises with each step, along with the occasional roar, but the batteries had long since been removed.

 

Karolina and Nico both grinned as they opened their eyes, gazing deeply into each other's stare. “You won't think it's so gross one day,” Karolina called out, getting a raised hand flipping her off in reply as Molly continued on into the kitchen.

 

“She just flipped you off,” Nico said, more than a bit amazed.

 

Karolina's smile was entirely at ease. “Oh well. I guess I have to just keep on kissing you, then.”

 

Nico claimed another kiss, this one lasting several seconds and making Karolina release a soft little sigh of contentment that curled Nico's toes. When they parted again, Karolina's hands were lightly resting on Nico's bare thighs, the blonde's fingertips daring to push beneath the too-long legs of the pair of Karolina's shorts Nico was wearing.

 

“So where was this job offer from?” Nico asked, growing distracted by the teasing warmth of her girlfriend's fingers and hands.

 

“Hm?” murmured Karolina. Nico's left hand was now lightly tapping the top of her right thigh. “Oh, the job?”

 

Nico nodded, reaching for her coffee with her right hand.

 

Karolina sighed, seeing what was about to happen. Not wanting Nico to burn herself on the likely still-hot coffee, she reached over and lightly covered the top of the mug with her left hand, preventing Nico from picking it up.

 

Nico looked over at Karolina, confused.

 

“The Fuzzy Peach,” Karolina said, trying not to laugh and just-ever-so-slightly regretting the chance to see if Nico would really have spilled her coffee had Karolina not prevented it.

 

The total lack of movement on Nico's face lasted for several seconds, enough for Karolina to worry that she might have broken her girlfriend. Then finally Nico blinked three times in rapid succession, and her mouth opened and closed without making a sound.

 

“Yep, that was pretty much my reaction, too,” Karolina said, removing her hand from Nico's coffee.

 

“Not as a dancer,” Nico asked, her voice low. “Please tell me that.”

 

Karolina burst out laughing again.

 

“Okay, good,” Nico sighed with relief. She could handle Karolina teasing her. She turned to reach for her coffee, which caused her to miss the smirk on her girlfriend's lips.

 

“They actually want her as a bouncer.”

 

This time Nico spilled the coffee on the table.

 

—O—

 

A week later, things changed. And it was all because of a brief letter Karolina had received in their post office box, a letter from her mother, Leslie. Karolina had read it first, then handed it to Nico, right before nearly going into a panic attack on the street outside the post office while Nico quickly read the letter and the offer it contained.

 

Nico couldn't recall the last time she saw her girlfriend so nervous. Karolina couldn't even fly straight, as evidenced by her nearly smashing Nico's head into a large rock as she descended through the narrow, twisting passage she used to fly in and out of the Hostel. Even though it made the short trip through the tortuous passage in the rocks more difficult, Karolina normally held Nico in a bridal carry when they flew together; her Majesdanian strength wasn't that much greater than human, but Nico _was_ tiny... and Karolina loved carrying her goth princess that way. (Even if Nico rolled her eyes when Karolina called her that.)

 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Nico asked as they exited the passage at the ceiling of the Hostel's enormous main room. Karolina's descent slowed, her glowing skin and hair casting swirling colors onto the walls and decorations in the Hostel until her feet touched the floor and her powers turned off.

 

Karolina didn't reply until she eased Nico down, letting the raven-haired woman's elevated boots touch the floor tiles. “I... I don't know,” she admitted, wincing at the frustrated look on Nico's fully made-up face. “I'm sorry, Nico, I'm just trying to be honest!”

 

“I know,” Nico sighed, trying not to take out her frustration on Karolina. It wasn't her girlfriend's fault that all their parents were assholes.

 

Nico turned and wrapped her arms around the taller blonde, getting a hug in return. Nico was on her toes, lifting her head to press her face against the warmth of Karolina's cheek. “You don't have to talk about it, baby,” Nico whispered, figuring that they were likely drawing attention from their friends by this point. “I'm here if you want to talk, but I'm perfectly content to just hug you and be here for you while you work through it, okay?”

 

“What happened?” asked Alex, from across the vast open space of the Hostel's main room.

 

“Karolina's fucking mom,” Nico said acidly, turning her head to look at Alex but not moving from where she was pressed against Karolina's cheek and neck. She was grateful that her makeup and the Hostel's dim lighting hid the heat on her own face. She was angry enough without adding other emotions to the mix, but the last hour had torn the scab off of some old emotional wounds, and Nico hated dealing with old feelings.

 

Knowing that she was part of why this was such a painful subject to Karolina made Nico hurt even more.

 

Karolina's head bent down, and she tried to bury her face in Nico's shoulder as the tears that had been threatening to erupt finally broke their cage; unfortunately, it was just slightly too far a distance, and the tears _plip-plipped_ softly onto the thin fabric of Nico's black cardigan.

 

“You're going to hurt your neck, Kar,” Nico said softly. “Float me.”

 

Alex turned to look at Chase and Gert, who had left their room and were standing at the balcony, watching the scene below. Molly and Old Lace were both asleep but starting to stir in the part of the balcony that had been converted into Old Lace's nest, but both of them seemed too sleepy to be interested at the moment.

 

Karolina's body illuminated again, swirling colors casting flowing hues into the shadows of the Hostel and onto the fair skin of Nico. As she felt herself nearly weightless in the embrace of Karolina's energy, Nico lightly pushed off the floor with just the slightest force. Her body drifted upward a few centimeters, until their eyes were nearly level. She and Karolina looked at each other, and it broke Nico's heart to see the woman she loved so hurt.

 

Nico pulled herself into Karolina; Karolina clutched Nico tightly and buried her face into Nico's shoulder, now at a much better angle for such an action. Karolina broke down into sobs, making Nico's eyes tear up as well. Nico held a soft pressure against the back of Karolina's head, letting her girlfriend cry it out in her arms. She likewise pressed her mouth and chin against Karolina's shoulder, her own eyes looking nervously over Karolina's shoulder and around the Hostel but not focusing on any one thing.

 

“I think we should give them a bit,” Gert said, her voice soft but definitely loud enough to be heard by Alex and Molly. Chase turned to look at his girlfriend; seeing the quiet fire in Gert's eyes, he nodded. He looked up to Alex and gave the other male Runaway a single nod of affirmation.

 

Alex considered for a second or two before nodding once back to Chase. He gave a look to Molly, but the youngest member of their family had already laid back down, curling up against Old Lace, who had protectively laid a taloned claw across Molly's torso.

 

With a what-the-hell smile, Alex turned and quietly went back to his little section of the Hostel, sliding behind the drapes that partitioned his personal space off from the rest of his family.

 

“Are they okay?” asked Livvie, shifting when she had dozed off on Alex's bed.

 

Alex smiled as he sat down on the low mattress, resting his hand on the small of his girlfriend's back in a loving manner. He noted the smile that spread across Livvie's face at the contact.

 

“Yeah,” he said softly. “I think they are.”

 

Back in the main room, Nico had closed her eyes, focusing on holding Karolina while the taller woman continued to weep. Karolina's chest wasn't shaking as much, so that was a good thing, but it was taking all Nico had to not break down herself.

 

They had never talked much about Jonah. Not after what Nico had done.

 

(Killed the lying asshole. That's what she had done, or at least tried.)

 

Jonah had taken Amy away from her, and then he wanted to take Karolina too, leaving all of the rest of them to die on a broken planet. So FUCK HIM. But she couldn't say that to Karolina. She couldn't break Karolina's heart all over again, when her actions at the time had been so damaging, so close to shattering her and Karolina's relationship for good back then, all because Nico couldn't control her rage.

 

She couldn't let that happen again. And she hadn't. They had gotten through it. Nico had apologized. Karolina had accepted it. And that was the last they had spoken of it.

 

Until Karolina's _fucking_ mom and her letter, offering to meet and tell Karolina more about the father she had barely known.

 

This was normally the spot where someone comforting a loved one would offer some optimistic platitude, like, “I'm sure they meant well,” or, “She wouldn't hurt you on purpose.”

 

Nico Minoru did not do optimistic platitudes. Or spare others' feelings, in general.

 

Plus, she knew better to than ascribe any positive motivations to any of their parents, anyway. None of them deserved that kindness.

 

Because she had her eyes closed and the relentless grasp of gravity on them had been negated by Karolina's powers, Nico didn't realize that they had slowly floated higher and higher, drifting easily toward their room. Karolina had lifted her head just enough to guide them, keeping her nose and mouth pressed against the now-damp fabric of Nico's thin black cardigan.

 

It was a momentary disorientation when Nico opened her eyes and was greeted with a view of the main room from eight meters up, but she trusted Karolina, and she closed her eyes once more against the slight twinge of nausea created when her proprioception disagreed with her sight.

 

“Taking us somewhere?” she asked softly, her voice warm against Karolina's shoulder.

 

“To our bedroom,” Karolina replied, her voice hoarse from crying. “I... I need to break down in private for now.”

 

Nico tried not to feel the sting of dismissal in her heart. “You... can set me down, if you want. So you can have your privacy.”

 

Karolina looked at Nico, the tears on the blonde's face refracting and reflecting the colors of her skin and hair. “I don't do private from you,” she said quietly, hugging Nico a bit tighter. “Not anymore.”

 

Nico kissed Karolina's temple. “You've got me. Always.” She paused, doubt trying to well up inside her heart as she tried not to dread whatever it was Leslie wanted to tell Karolina about her homicidal sperm donor. She tried to stamp that doubt back down. “I hope you know that.”

 

She felt Karolina nod against her shoulder, and the simple gesture exorcised that damned doubt.

 

“I do,” Karolina replied, and the two words made Nico's heart burn with joy instead of shame.

 

Nothing else was said as Karolina slowly hovers along the upstairs walkway, using a soft pulse of light to push open the door to their room before she carefully flies them inside. Now, with Nico standing with Karolina instead of being carried in her arms, it's a simple matter for the two of them to pass through the large bedroom door.

 

When they're finally over their bed (tall ceilings in the Hostel truly are remarkable, Nico thinks), she prepares for Karolina to gently release her, dropping the full-size Staff of One onto the edge of the bed and tensing her legs so she can carefully touch down onto the yielding surface of the mattress without twisting her ankle.

 

But Karolina surprises her, keeping a tight hold on Nico as the two of them rotate as they hover, slowly going from a position of both of them upright to Nico being on her back and Karolina lying atop her as they descend onto their bed, perpetually unmade and slightly messy.

 

“Cute trick,” Nico said, and the smug smile that flashes across Karolina's glowing face, still lined with glistening tracks of tears, makes Nico's breath catch in her chest.

 

“I've been practicing,” the luminous woman said, and unconsciously her mind delights in this moment of happiness to quell the flood of painful memories that had been unleashed earlier.

 

The softness of their sheets tickled Nico's back as she settled atop the mattress. Karolina slowly turned her powers off, adjusting her weight so as not to drop onto her smaller girlfriend all at once.

 

“I'm not going to break, you know,” Nico said, her lips twisting into a hint of a smirk as Karolina's glow faded and the blonde's skin returned to its non-luminous state.

 

“I know,” Karolina said, placing a kiss on Nico's lips, nearly black with the color she had chosen for this evening. “You're tougher than you look, and you already look pretty tough.”

 

“Why, Miss Dean,” Nico replied, a feigned look of shock on her face. “I can't tell if that's a compliment or a dig!”

 

Now Karolina grinned, and that fact that she had stopped crying made Nico's heart swell. “Why can't it be both, Miss Minoru?” she teased.

 

“With a sassy mouth like that,” Nico said, reaching up and running the tips of her fingers through Karolina's hair before cupping her cheek, “it's a good thing you're so damn beautiful.”

 

“Mmm, you love my mouth,” Karolina teased, lifting her head just out of easy reach of Nico's lips. “I know that for a fact.”

 

“Fuck yes, I do,” Nico admitted, her breath starting to get tight as she felt her heart rate pick up. “Hey,” she said, wanting to get what she needed to say out before they became entangled in more wonderful activities. “I know we need to have sex, and we _want_ to have sex, but we should probably talk about what your mom said first.”

 

Karolina sighed, and her blue eyes closed. She nodded twice. “Yeah, we should,” she admitted, then she opened her eyes again. “Putting the difficult stuff off never ends well.”

 

“No, it doesn't. Even though you and I are so good at putting it off.”

 

The smile that crossed Karolina's face as looked down at Nico was both sad and knowing. “We really are, aren't we?”

 

“Absolutely. I'm worse than you are at it.”

 

There was a pause, then Karolina lightly kissed the tip of Nico's nose. “Yeah, you are. But I love you.” She wrapped her arms around Nico and rolled them over in the massive bed, so that Nico was now resting on Karolina's chest instead.

 

The pause that followed was long and more than a bit uncomfortable, as Nico's eyes closed for several seconds, then opened, searching Karolina's eyes nervously for a few seconds before snapping closed again. Karolina reached up and ran her fingertips down Nico's hair, lightly tracing them down the smaller woman's neck, then her left arm. When Nico's eyes opened again, Karolina patiently met that brown gaze, darker than usual with unspoken but evident emotion.

 

“I... I'm sorry I hurt you by killing Jonah,” Nico finally said. “Well, trying to kill him. At the crater. But I'm not sorry that I tried to kill him, and I'm not going to lie to you and say that I am.” She looked more worried than Karolina had seen her in a long time, and she could feel Nico's body trembling atop her. In silent reply, Karolina squeezed a bit more tightly with her left arm, wrapped across Nico's right hip and lower back, her hand grasping Nico's left buttock through the black lace skirt and tight shorts.

 

“He... He killed Amy. He tried to kill you. He did kill people, dozens of them, hundreds as far as we know.” A tear slipped from Nico's left eye, splashing onto Karolina's chin just below her mouth. “He's your father, I know, but he's a shitty, shitty person. He's going to keep possessing people and sucking them dry, until we stop him for good. But—”

 

Nico had to pause and swallow, obviously trying not to break down into sobs. “But... I never want to hurt you, Kar.” She opened her eyes again, and now she saw tears forming in Karolina's big, expressive eyes. “I'm... I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I just _acted_ , and that I didn't talk to you about it, and that I hurt you by trying to kill him while you were still coming to terms with him being your father.”

 

Karolina raised her head and kissed Nico on the forehead, holding her lips there for several seconds before pulling back. “Scoot up here, please,” she asked gently, and she waited while Nico slid up so that their eyes and faces were at the same height, so to speak.

 

She kissed Nico on the lips, noticing the salty taste from her girlfriend's tears. She figured Nico was getting the same taste from her own lips, but neither of them was complaining. After a few seconds of just them hesitantly pressing their lips together, nothing more than that, Karolina breathed out softly. Nico's eyes opened, and she slightly lifted her head up.

 

“I forgave you long ago,” Karolina admitted. “You were defending all of us, and you were avenging Amy. Losing her nearly broke us apart, but none of us have had to suffer as much as you.”

 

Nico's eyes closed again as she fought tears. She didn't know if she'd ever get over losing her sister, not completely. But she had come to terms with the pain, and she had moved forward with her life. And she wasn't the only Runaway who had lost a sibling. “You have,” she whispered to Karolina. “Lost siblings. In Jonah's ship.”

 

“But I never really knew them,” Karolina argued. “And they were working with him! They were going to kill all of us!” She blinked tears out of her own eyes. “They were going to kill _you_.”

 

Karolina reached up and wiped away Nico's tears, first from her right cheek, then her left. “My brothers and sisters were never in that spaceship,” she said. “They're here.”

 

“Well, I hope you're not including me in that,” Nico said, her expression becoming a bit uneasy. “Because that'd be a bit weird, considering we fuck and all.”

 

Karolina laughed, a solid laugh that bodily lifted Nico as the blonde's chest expanded and contracted beneath her. Her expression as she looked up was full of adoration and wonder as she looked into Nico's eyes, almost sparkling with mirth, because she knew Karolina needed to laugh to release the pain she was holding inside.

 

“You are SO much more than my sister,” Karolina said, the raw honesty in her words burning her throat. She pressed a kiss to Nico's lips. “You're my friend.” She kissed Nico again. “You're my teammate.” Another soft kiss. “You're my lover.” Another lingering kiss. “You're my girlfriend.” Another kiss, but this one lasted much longer, and Karolina found herself having to keep from easing Nico's lips open, or she knew that there would be no more words for some time.

 

“You, Nico Minoru, are the woman I want to spend my life with,” she breathed out, so worked up that her skin began to glow again for a full second before she had her powers back under control.

 

Before Nico could reply, Karolina rolled them over again, farther across the bed than before, nearly pinning the Staff of One beneath Nico.

 

Karolina reached to move the Staff from where it was pressing into Nico's side. The simple action suddenly triggered a memory for Nico, a fight she, Gert and Alex had been in several weeks ago.

 

_The powerfully-built man had tried to tackle Nico when she had knocked his gun out of his hand with the Staff, surprising her with his sudden wild charge. His right hand closed around the Staff of One, and he nearly succeeding in yanking it out of her grasp with his strength._

 

_Then the yellow-white electricity sparking and filling the Staff's circular headpiece shifted into a bloody scarlet. Nico smelled ash an instant before the man's entire right arm burst into flame, from the hand gripping the Staff up to his shoulder. He shoved away from the Staff, but the flames continued to burn, searing and scorching his arm and hand before any of them could put the fire out._

 

“ _Jesus, Nico,” Gert had said, standing over the smoking man and his blackened arm. “When did you learn how to do that?”_

 

_Nico blinked several times. “I... I didn't.”_

 

Karolina hadn't been there. She didn't know.

 

Nico was too quick to stop Karolina from grabbing the Staff, despite lunging for her girlfriend's arm. “Karolina!” she blurted loudly, nearly a shout.

 

The blonde's fingers closed around the ebony shaft of the artifact, gripping it calmly right before Nico's fingers could get there, grasping the Staff just above Karolina's hand.

 

Nothing happened.

 

Nico blinked a few times.

 

Karolina noticed her confused look. “Are you afraid I'll use your magical Staff, Miss Minoru?” she asked playfully, smiling coyly at the dark-haired witch, unaware of what Nico had truly feared.

 

“Uh... kinda, yeah,” Nico mumbled, trying to process what had happened. Or what hadn't happened.

 

“Well,” Karolina said, not releasing her grip on the Staff of One. Her fingers brushed against Nico's on the Staff's wooden shaft as she shifted her position to straddle Nico's waist, a very smug smile on her gorgeous face. “I can assure you that you don't have to cast any spells on me to get me to stay with you.” Karolina knelt forward, hovering with her face just above Nico's. “Because I am completely, hopelessly in love with you.”

 

Karolina felt excitement pulse through her body as her desire for her girlfriend energized her as effectively as her powers. “I _am_ going to have your baby one day, Nico Minoru,” Karolina said, the boldness of her statement surprising herself as well as rendering Nico dumbstruck with equal amounts of love and lust as Karolina's face descended, letting their lips press together with heated urgency.

 

As they kissed, losing themselves in each other, neither of them noticed the headpiece of the Staff of One, which was still held by both women, flicker to life. A shimmering circle of brilliant white-green electricity silently filled the metal loop, pulsing and burning for several seconds before those two hands gently released the Staff, letting it fall softly to the bed as its headpiece once again went still.

 

 


	2. Everything Changes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are some Feels in this chapter. Consider yourselves warned.
> 
> And in case anyone was wondering, I see (and hear) Nico pronouncing Kar, her diminutive name for Karolina, as “care,” not “car,” for two reasons. First, it's the same pronunciation as the first syllable in Karolina's full name, and second, because Nico secretly adores that caring is such an essential part of Karolina's nature. (Although she'd publicly deny the second part.)

_I think the universe is on my side_

_Heaven and Earth have finally aligned_

_Days are good, and that's the way it should be_

_You sprinkle stardust on my pillowcase_

_It's like a moonbeam brushed across my face_

_Nights are good, and that's the way it should be_

_You make me sing, ooh la la la_

_You make a girl go, I'm in love, love_

 

 

\--Echosmith, “Bright”

 

 

—O—

—O—

 

 

It was another four weeks before Karolina finally decided what to do about her mother's letter.

 

She, Chase and Gert were shopping for groceries at the exact moment she made up her mind.

 

“I've decided what to do about my mom,” she said as she filled one of the reusable cloth shopping bags with organic apples and pears.

 

There was a soft thump as Chase dropped an orange on the floor. Of all of them, he had become the one least trusting of their parents, and he knew that was because he had been the one to fall for their promises, to let himself be fooled. And they had nearly lost Gert, Old Lace and Karolina, all because of him.

 

Karolina and Gert turned to look at him as he picked the orange up and dropped it in one of the cloth bags in his shopping cart.

 

Seeing them both looking at him, he shrugged. “It's an orange. We're going to peel it anyway.”

 

Gert quietly walked over and patted her boyfriend on the arm, not saying anything. Chase smiled, placed a kiss on Gert's purple hair, then made his way out of the produce section.

 

“We'll pick out the meats!” Gert called out behind him.

 

“You're both vegetarians!” he said over his shoulder.

 

“Dammit,” Gert swore softly to Karolina. “Sometimes he falls for that.”

 

The blonde giggled briefly as they moved to the leafy greens section.

 

“So,” Gert said quietly. “What are you going to do?”

 

Karolina inspected two cartons of spinach before deciding on getting them both, dropping them both in the cart she and Gert were using. “I think I probably need to tell Nico first,” she said calmly.

 

Gert gathered a large handful of carrots, placing them into a different reusable shopping bag she had brought just for vegetables that would be damp, as this bag could be washed after being used. She made a soft noise of disgust at one of the dispensers for disposable plastic bags for the vegetables as they walked by it. “Of _course_ you'd be loyal to your girlfriend,” she finally said, injecting clear and obviously contrived irritation into her tone of voice.

 

Karolina smiled happily. “Of course,” she agreed pleasantly.

 

—O—

 

Two blocks down, Alex Wilder found himself completely, hopelessly at a loss.

 

“What's the difference between a curling _iron_ and a curling _wand_?”

 

Nico stopped looking through the hair brushes a few meters down the narrow aisle. “Because one uses science and the other uses magic,” she said coolly.

 

“Ha ha,” Alex replied flatly, turning to look at Nico. The look of utter disdain she was flashing him was practically withering, if only he hadn't been used to her glares. “What I meant was, why would you use one as opposed to the other?”

 

“One makes the curls tighter, so they hold their shape better,” she said, pointing at a section of curling irons, “and the other,” now pointing at the adjacent stack of curling wands, “leaves the curls looser, more like waves.”

 

“But they're both curls,” Alex said, confused. “That seems like a pretty minor difference.”

 

“No wonder you're the tech specialist,” Nico said sardonically, turning her back on him and briskly walking several aisles down.

 

Alex wasn't entirely sure how he wound up accompanying Nico on the trip to the HYPR beauty store. But once his relationship with Livvie made it through the first few months, he had been able to dismiss the awkward feelings he had once held for Nico, and that it much easier to deal with her usual standoffish demeanor.

 

(The feelings he held for Amy were much, much harder to relinquish.)

 

Alex caught up with Nico in the middle of a aisle of nothing but lip colors and applicators, a riot of colors and competing displays on both sides. The jet-haired woman was lifting and examining one thin, narrow tube of color after another, usually grimacing and replacing the tube but rarely making a soft noise of approval and adding it to the small basket she was carrying.

 

Alex looked at the section at eye level in front of him, proclaiming a brand called Urban Decay with a rather bold display of their logo in a small poster rising above the array of products. “Sounds like a good brand for you,” he said, keeping his voice light.

 

“If you're trying to flirt with me, I'll tell your girlfriend,” Nico replied, not looking at him. “And then I'll tell _my_ girlfriend. Even odds on who makes you regret it first.”

 

There was a pause for a few seconds, during which time Nico made another selection, then moved on down the aisle.

 

Alex followed her, stopping next to her when Nico halted once more, obviously looking for something in the new section. “You know, sometimes I can't tell if you're really trying to make me mad or if you're just being you.”

 

Nico paused, her fingers hovering over one rack of lip color tubes. She turned to look at Alex. “Who says there's a difference?”

 

Instead of waiting for an answer, Nico returned her attention to the tubes of cosmetics, lightly using her finger to trace over the displayed colors until she found what she was looking for.

 

Alex let his eyes wander over the colors on display, although this current section seemed to be dark purples and burgundies that were nearly black. “How many different shades of black are there for this stuff?”

 

“Not enough,” Nico replied, her attention focused on the products just slightly above eye level for her. “There you are,” she said in a quieter voice as her fingers closed around a particular tube; the tube itself and the color displayed on it both looked completely black to Alex. As he watched, Nico retrieved a second tube, then a third of the same hue, dropping them into her basket.

 

“You must like that one, I guess,” he said as they moved into the displays of makeup palettes.

 

“Not particularly, but Karolina does.”

 

A look of confusion flickered across Alex's face as they stopped in front of a display of rainbow-themed cosmetics, a sign on the table indicating they were products released for Pride Month. He had seen Karolina touch up her lip color at several times over the last seven months, and he had never once seen her use a color that dark.

 

“But she doesn't use—” Alex said, stopping when Nico turned to him and gave him a slow, broad smile that was forthright in its cockiness. “Ah,” he said as he made the connection.

 

“Does Livvie need anything?” Nico asked as she picked up two of the Pride palettes, carefully placing them in her basket. When Alex didn't answer, she lifted her head and looked at him.

 

“Oh, um, I... don't know?” He reached over and picked up a palette containing mostly pastels but with a few bolder colors. “Maybe this one? Would that work?”

 

“Alex,” Nico said, and now her voice had none of its earlier sardonic quality. “If you don't know what kind of cosmetics to get for your woman, you let her buy them.” She gently took the palette out of his hands and replaced it. “Would you use the same computer program on a Linux computer that you would on a Macbook?”

 

“No,” replied Alex. “Totally different operating systems. It'd require entirely differ—”

 

“Exactly. Karolina is a Spring,” Nico said, pointing to an adjacent table with entirely different palettes arranged atop its surface. “I'm an Autumn,” she added, holding up another palette from the table they were at; when she saw Alex watching her closely, she added a little flourish with her right hand, like a model on a game show displaying a sponsor's product. It was so absurd a gesture that Alex grinned readily.

 

Nico set the palette back down, then, reconsidering, picked it back up and added it to her half-filled basket. “Although sometimes I tease Kar by telling her that I'm a Winter, which pisses her off,” she added, with a knowing smirk.

 

Alex stood still. When Nico hadn't said anything else for a few seconds, waiting for him to get the joke, he finally spoke. “Okay, I don't get it.”

 

Nico sighed. “Oh, Alex.” She turned around as it to walk away, paused a moment, then finished turning the rest of the way around, smirking again. “Winter always comes before Spring,” she said, her eyes bright with bawdy humor.

 

“Oh my God,” Alex said, not quite a groan but awfully close.

 

Nico was still grinning when she turned and swept past Alex, moving toward the far side of the store. He had to hurry to catch up to her, just as she reached the hair dryers.

 

“Wow,” he said, looking at some of the prices for the various colors and styles of dryers, carefully arranged and secured to a long bar over the boxes, to allow buyers to lift and hold each different model. He had always thought hair dryers were around thirty or forty dollars, but these were easily twice that, and the prices seemed to go up the farther down he went. He moved a few steps down to where Nico was gleefully snatching one box off the shelf at the very end of the display models. “Geez, Nico!” he blurted out as he saw the price label on the shiny red hair dryer displayed above the boxes that matched the one Nico was holding. _“Three hundred dollars?!”_

 

The look she gave him as she placed the box in the shopping basket was not amused and was, in fact, more caustic than usual. “Can you maybe try _not_ to make every single one of the all-white staff in this upper middle class store look at the Asian girl and the black guy standing in the super-expensive section, Alex?” she hissed at him.

 

“That's... just, well, it's a lot of money,” he replied, trying to keep his voice down.

 

“And Karolina and I have a lot of hair,” she shot back. “Plus, that drug house we took down two days ago gave us a very generous donation toward our crime-fighting efforts.”

 

“I know,” Alex replied. “I invested most of it, like we had all agreed.”

 

“We _also_ all agreed that we could spend our personal share of the money however we wanted, no questions asked and _no criticism!”_ She was glaring at him at this point.

 

“Alright, I'm sorry!” he hissed back at her.

 

“Could I be of service to you two?” asked a woman who appeared to be in her early thirties, smiling politely despite the expression not seeming to reach her eyes, which seemed to be more preoccupied with estimating the value of the items stacked up in the shopping basket Nico was carrying.

 

“Thanks, we're fine,” Alex reflexively said, not looking at the woman.

 

Nico met the woman's accusatory gaze directly, with a defiant look of her own. “I don't know, could you maybe make him deal with a period or two, so he doesn't act like such a _man_ sometimes?!”

 

The HYPR employee's carefully maintained expression twitched, like it might be about to crack at Nico's comment, but by then the sorceress had a look in her eyes that could only be described as gleeful as she slowly turned to look at Alex.

 

As soon as Alex saw Nico's expression, he felt a nearly-existential dread descend over him. “NO! _No_ , Nico, not a chance!”

 

“But it would be _so enlightening_ for you!” Nico said, now grinning wildly. “And for Chase, too!”

 

“I wouldn't call it 'enlightening'! I'd call it twisted and cruel!”

 

“It's a good thing Gert isn't here. She'd chew you up and spit you out for that somewhat misogynistic comment.” She turned to the store employee, Jenni according to her name tag. “Didn't you think that was a misogynistic comment?” she asked the somewhat-older woman.

 

“Umm, possibly?” the woman said diplomatically.

 

“Well, we're ready to check out anyway,” Nico said, turning her back on Jenni. She started walking to the checkout queue; it took Alex a moment to catch up to her. He was still watching for any sign of the Staff of One coming out.

 

As they waited for their turn to check out, Nico browsed a rotating display of tweezers, nail clippers and files, eyelash tools and similar instruments. She made a soft noise of approval, taking a few of the small packages and adding them to her basket.

 

“You need anything?” she asked Alex, who was standing beside her in the queue.

 

“Uh, no. No, I'm good, thanks.”

 

Nico turned back around, waiting quietly. She lifted her basket slightly so she could look in it. As her eyes fell on the box containing the high-end hair dryer, prominently displaying the distinctive Ferrari logo as proof of its engine being made by the world-famous automotive company, she smiled happily.

 

“It's her birthday,” Nico said quietly, her voice just above a whisper.

 

Alex turned to look at her, surprised by how softly the normally succinct woman had spoken. “What'd you say?”

 

Nico turned to look at him, the familiar look of annoyance on her face once more. “I said, it's her birthday. Karolina.”

 

“What?”

 

Nico nodded.

 

“Today?!”

 

Nico nodded again.

 

“But she said it was a few weeks away!”

 

“Yeah. That was a few weeks back.”

 

“Seriously?  Why didn't she say anything?”

 

“Because she knows each of us is dealing with a lot of shit, and she doesn't want anyone to make a big deal over her because she's officially one year older.”

 

“And you're okay with that?”

 

Nico grasped the hair dryer box and lifted it up slightly. “Yeah, I'm following my usual style of doing exactly what people ask me to do,” she said sarcastically. She replaced the box back in the basket. “She doesn't want a big party. I can respect that. But there's no way I'm doing _nothing_ for my girlfriend's birthday.”

 

Alex went quiet, and Nico guessed that he was starting to blame himself for not remembering. He looked genuinely upset at having lost track of Karolina's upcoming birthday, and that made Nico feel uncharacteristically like giving him a bit of a break.

 

Goddammit. She was getting soft.

 

But then she considered Karolina's smile. And Karolina's voice, and how warm she was at night, and the tingling sensation of being pressed against her skin when her powers were active, and how kind and sweet her girlfriend was. She thought about Karolina's face when they made love, hovering over her, lying beneath her, smiling with adoration, gasping for breath, grinning with delight.

 

Maybe getting a _little_ soft wouldn't be so bad after all.

 

“She'd be happy for you.”

 

Nico started, instantly annoyed at herself for getting so wrapped up in her thoughts in public. “What did you say?” she asked, turning to look at Alex, who had a caring smile on his face.

 

“I said, she'd be happy for you,” Alex repeated. “Amy.”

 

Nico inhaled deeply, then she turned to stare straight ahead again. She nodded, fighting off the surge of emotion. “Yeah,” she managed to get out, her voice rough. She refined her self-control for a few seconds, then she turned back to Alex. “She would for you, too.”

 

—O—

 

Unloading enough groceries and household supplies for six teenagers and one _Deionychus_ took some time, even with Molly's super strength. The Rolls Royce had been so packed full of supplies that only Chase and Gert had been able to fit in the car to drive it back to the Hostel after their shopping excursion, leaving Molly, Nico, Karolina and Alex to take the bus out beyond the fringe of the city. Once the bus had gotten out of sight, it was fairly simple for Karolina to fly them back to the Hostel, Alex first, then Molly, and finally Nico.

 

Nico placed a soft kiss on Karolina's cheek as the two of them flew, only a meter or two over the ground to stay out of sight of radar and curious eyes. Nico was being held like a bride in Karolina's arms, their usual position as they flew, Nico's arms draped over her girlfriend's neck and shoulders.

 

“It's not fair that I can't kiss you back,” Karolina said, a hint of a pout in her voice.

 

“I'd rather you not fly us into something,” Nico replied, smiling at Karolina's little pouty voice, which was utterly adorable. “We'll be back home in just a few minutes. Your flying's gotten a lot faster.”

 

Karolina smiled proudly. “Practice. It's helped all of us.”

 

Nico glanced ahead, then back at Karolina. “I got you something,” she said.

 

“Nicoooo,” Karolina groaned, dragging out her lover's name. “I told you, we don't need to be too frivolous.”

 

“It's something practical,” Nico said quickly. “And it's your eighteenth birthday. You'll love it, I promise.”

 

“If it's from you? Of course I will.”

 

Nico's heart felt impossibly warm at the compliment. Feeling bold, she placed another kiss on Karolina's glowing cheek, letting her lips linger for several seconds. “I love you, Kar. With all of my black soul.”

 

“Your soul isn't black, Nico,” Karolina said easily. “And it isn't dark or stained, either.”

 

Nico wasn't so quick to reply this time. “I... I've killed people, Kar. How does that not make me dark, or evil?”

 

“You're not evil because you did it to protect others. Because you did it to protect _us_.” Her eyes glanced over to Nico out of concern, quickly returning to the arroyo ahead of them as they neared the Hostel. “You didn't do it to benefit yourself, or to gain power like our parents. You did it even though you didn't want to, because you knew it had to be done.”

 

Karolina felt her eyes begin to sting with emotion. “You—“ she began, hesitating as she debated whether saying this was the right thing to do or not but finally deciding on honesty. “You did it... so I wouldn't have to.”

 

Rather than reply verbally, Nico slowly leaned her head against Karolina's left shoulder, the tip of her nose just brushing the warm skin of Karolina's neck as they flew on. After nearly a minute, Nico very softly spoke, struggling against emotion herself. “I love you, Kar.”

 

Karolina tilted her head toward Nico until the side of her head rested against Nico's forehead; she felt Nico lightly press her head against Karolina's temple in return. There were several things Karolina could have said, but none of them could capture the tumult of emotions she was experiencing quite so well as that simple gesture. The tears from her left eye ran into Nico's dark hair, vanishing in the ebon; the tears from her right eye slithered their way posteriorly and blew away, off into the air behind them.

 

They flew that way until they were back at the Hostel.

 

—O—

 

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

 

The cheer came up as soon as Karolina and Nico exited the tunnel in the roof of the main room. They looked down to see Molly, Alex, Gert, Chase and Old Lace—all of whom were now wearing bright yellow party hats, including Old Lace—all smiling up at them as they descended to the ground.

 

Molly was holding half a sheet cake, which Gert had sent Molly to buy while she distracted Karolina at the grocery store. Gert and Chase were busy trying to finish lighting the candles, which appeared to have been randomly shoved into the cake, while Alex was holding up two bottles of sparking grape juice like they were champagne.

 

“I did _not_ tell them to do this,” Nico said quickly. “I plan on waiting until we've been together at least a year or two before I start planning embarrassing shit that makes you feel awkwardly uncomfortable.”

 

Karolina turned her full attention on Nico; inside her heart was galloping at knowing at Nico was already making plans for their future. Even her stomach felt a bit queasy at the thought.

 

They were going to have a future together.

 

Well, assuming neither of them got killed.

 

“It's okay,” she said to Nico as her shoes touched down on the ground. However, she didn't turn her powers off just yet. She kept holding Nico, shifting the smaller woman to where they could easily kiss. As they did, Nico adjusted her body position against Karolina, getting her legs underneath her so her girlfriend could turn her powers off and release them both. Once they were done with this kiss.

 

Finally Nico felt her body weight shift back onto her legs and feet. Her lips pulled just apart from Karolina's, which were now darkly smudged. “Happy birthday, beautiful,” she whispered, gazing up into Karolina's blue eyes.

 

Karolina grinned so wide that her teeth were easily visible. “It's the happiest birthday ever,” she said, wrapping her arms around Nico's neck as she stared into those stunning mahogany eyes.

 

—O—

 

“Oh my goddd, I shouldn't have eaten that cake,” Karolina groaned, seated on the floor of the bathroom she and Nico shared, head leaned back against the wall. “What was in it?!”

 

“The store swore it was vegan,” Gert said, perched on a stool that was likely fifty years older than she was. She sat on the other side of the large bathroom, two big towels at the ready. “It shouldn't have made you sick!”

 

“Well, I haven't eaten anything else today,” Karolina replied, eyes tightly closed as she fought the surge of nausea rumbling deep in her abdomen.

 

“Maybe that's part of the problem,” Gert replied. “Nothing on your stomach, then a big rush of carbs and sugar.”

 

“Maybe,” Karolina agreed. “It was really good cake. Well, the first time I tasted it. The second time, not so good.”

 

Karolina suddenly whirled over, barely getting her face into the toilet bowl before retching horribly, multiple times. Her back muscles tensed as she heaved again, though nothing but a spattering of stomach acid was left to come up.

 

“God, that sounds painful,” Gert mumbled as she knelt beside Karolina's shivering form. She carefully took the blonde's long hair out of Karolina's right hand, letting the blonde grip the sides of the toilet with both hands as her stomach continued trying to kill her. Gert carefully gathered up Karolina's long hair, holding it up and back with one hand while she rubbed Karolina's back with the other hand.

 

After nearly two minutes of painful groaning and retching, Karolina finally fell back onto her rear, head pointed up and gasping.

 

“You know, it's totally not fair,” Gert said, a wry grin on her face as stood, looking down at Karolina. She handed the blonde one of the clean towels.

 

“Wh-what?” stammered Karolina, her body still shaking. Also, she was pretty sure she had just peed on herself.

 

“That you just finished throwing your guts up, and you still look like a fucking supermodel.”

 

Karolina feebly smiled before leaning against Gert's legs, wrapping her arms around them for support. “Oh God, Gert, please don't lecture me about society's unfair assessment of women based on their physical appearance. Not until after I brush my teeth and put on clean underwear.”

 

Gert patted the top of Karolina's head. “Deal, glowbug. Deal.” She extended a hand down to Karolina. “Need some help to stand up?”

 

Pastel light filled the bathroom as Karolina began glowing; she floated upward into a standing position, steadying herself for a moment before retrieving her toothbrush from its case on the sink.

 

“Gorgeous _and_ you can fly. Fucking universe plays favorites.”

 

Karolina looked in the mirror, meeting Gert's frown with a weak smile of her own. “And I got the hottest girlfriend,” Karolina said teasingly. “Although I guess Chase is pretty hot. For a guy.”

 

Rather than verbally riposting, Gert patted Karolina's back lovingly. “We've got to figure out what's going on with you, K. Do you think it's our parents again? Like when Not-Stacey nearly killed me by poisoning Old Lace?”

 

Karolina shook her head, unable to speak as she scrubbed her teeth, then rinsed her mouth out thoroughly. She finally dried her mouth with the unused hand towel, then tossed the used towel into the large laundry hamper. Which was nearly full. Her multicolored glow faded as her skin turned human in appearance again.

 

“We have to do laundry soon,” she said, focusing on the woven hamper. “And I need to clean this bathroom.” Shifting position as she turned, she remembered a more immediate need. “And I need to change. Peed on myself while I was puking.”

 

“God, K, you sound like a pregnant woman,” Gert said. Then she threw up her hands in a show of mock outrage. “And that's _another_ way the universe loves you! You and Nico can fuck all you want, and you never have to use birth control! Jesus!”

 

Gert pushed her glasses up onto her nose. “I'll step out and let you get clean clothes on. You gonna be okay?”

 

Karolina had gone entirely still, staring into the mirror. Numbly, she gave the barest nod to Gert. “Y-yeah,” she managed to get out. “I'll, um, be good.” She turned her head to look at Gert. “Thanks, Gert,” she said, giving her friend a smile. “I'd hug you, but, you know...” she said as she plucked at the front of her shirt, spotted in a few places from splatter from the toilet.

 

“Yeah, thanks for the pass on that,” Gert said, grinning. “Just yell if you need me, okay? Nico and Chase should be back soon with something for your stomach. I have no doubt she yelled at him the whole way into town about needing to hurry.”

 

Karolina nodded, watching silently as Gert backed out of the bathroom, then walked through the bedroom and out into the hall, closing the bedroom behind her. As soon as the door latch clicked, Karolina snatched up her phone from the counter and dropped to the floor, leaning back against the wall next to the vanity.

 

The burner phones they used now were “dumb” phones, capable of texting and calling but not much else. The lack of emojis alone was a crime as far as Karolina was concerned, but the dumbphones were cheap, provided basic services and were harder for the Pride to use against them. She pulled up Nico's name (G.Princess) from her contacts—Nico had Karolina in her phone as Starlight, which Karolina absolutely loved—and started texting.

 

_Starlight: Hey lover_

 

There was a brief pause, then Karolina saw the little bubble that indicated Nico was typing.

 

_G.Princess: hey. still at the pharmacy. chase had to go poop._

 

_Starlight: omg, did not need to know that_

 

_G.Princess: you feeling any better?_

 

_Starlight: No =(_

 

_Starlight: Hey_

 

_G.Princess: hey_

 

_G.Princess: =)_

 

_Starlight: You remember a few weeks ago when my mom sent me that letter?_

 

_G.Princess: yea_

 

_Starlight: You remember us making love that night?_

 

_G.Princess: uhhh yeah. you made me cum like twenty times. not forgetting that anytime soon._

 

Karolina grinned proudly, gleefully clutching her phone to her chest with both hands as she remembered that night. It had been a _very_ good night. For both of them.

 

_Starlight: Well, you gave as good as you got, princess._

 

_G.Princess: omg why the princess_

 

_Starlight: Because you're my princess. My angry little goth princess._

 

_G.Princess: well at least you got three out of four right_

 

_Starlight: 4/4_

 

_G.Princess: uh ok_

 

_G.Princess: you're too cute to argue with for long_

 

_Starlight: Okay, so speaking of that night. Do you remember what I said that got you so hot?_

 

_G.Princess: fuck yes. like i'd forget that._

 

_Starlight: What did I say?_

 

_G.Princess: you said you wanted to have my baby one day_

 

_G.Princess: no wait. you said you were GOING to have my baby one day._

 

_Starlight: Correct =)_

 

_G.Princess: ;D_

 

_Starlight: well_

 

_Starlight: I was holding onto your Staff when I said it. And you were too._

 

_G.Princess: o fuck_

 

_G.Princess: O FUCK_

 

_Starlight: Nico. Breathe._

 

_G.Princess: OMFG KAROLINA_

 

_Starlight: You think you could pick up a pregnancy test or two? Please?_

 

There was no reply for a long minute, then two, and Karolina felt herself start to grow nauseous again as her body began to shake. Sweat was beading up on the back of her neck and down her back, a sick, cold sweat that somehow felt worse than vomiting for the last hour. As soon as that thought crossed her mind, she felt her stomach start to roil again.

 

This wasn't happening. She hadn't just destroyed their relationship, she couldn't have, not because she had said something bold and daring while they were making love. Yes, she should have been paying attention to her surroundings. That was true. But she had only said what she did because it was TRUE, because she loved Nico, and she wanted to raise a family with Nico one day, and have little adorable babies that grew up to be adorable kids that glowed and glowered and laughed and pouted and dressed in bright colors but then sometimes dressed in all black and then finally grew up into tiny, possibly surly, little adults. She couldn't have fucked this up so badly, not by saying something borne out of love.

 

This couldn't end this way. It couldn't.

 

The buzz of her phone startled her so much that she nearly threw it down out of reflex. With a shaking hand, she called up the message.

 

_G.Princess: i lvoe you_

 

_G.Princess: we're going to get through this. together._

 

Karolina audibly sobbed with relief as she read the words.

 

_Starlight: I lvoe you too =)_

 

_G.Princess: do you want me to explain to chase why i'm buying pregnancy tests_

 

_Starlight: No. Just give him one of your best DSAFW looks. He knows better than to test you._

 

_G.Princess: ??_

 

_Starlight: Don't say a fucking word. =)_

 

_G.Princess: ah, got it. can do_

 

_G.Princess: k?_

 

_Starlight: Yeah?_

 

_G.Princess: i'm never leaving you. no matter what. just wanted to make sure you knew._

 

A tear splashed onto the modest screen of Karolina's phone before she finished reading the text.

 

_Starlight: I needed to hear that right now. Thank you. I love you._

 

_G.Princess: love you too. be home soon._

 

_Starlight: Can't wait. =)_

 

She set her phone down beside her, leaned her head back against the wall and took several deep breaths.

 

Nico wasn't going to leave her. She wasn't.

 

Karolina pulled her knees up to her chest where she was sitting, lowered her head until her forehead was pressed against her knees, and let herself cry out of relief for a few minutes, hugging her legs to her chest as she allowed herself to have a mini-breakdown. She was entitled to that.

 

Once she was cried out, she got up, stripped off her sweaty clothes and turned on the shower. She took her underwear into the shower with her, rinsing it out under the spray before wringing it out and tossing it in the nearby hamper as well.

 

As the water ran over her, she scrubbed her body with her wash, then rinsed off, starting with her face, mouth and neck, then the rest of her chest and abdomen. As she was rinsing the body wash off of her abdomen, she caught herself and paused as she finished. She replaced the movable shower head, letting its spray hit her on the chest as she very carefully ran her right hand over her lower abdomen.

 

—O—

 

Nico kept pacing around the bedroom, the soft noise of her buckled ankle boots clomping on the hardwood floor the only sound as she walked a circuit around the bed, from one side of the headboard, down to the foot of the bed, then up to the other side of the headboard, over and over again.

 

The sound of the toilet flushing in the adjacent bathroom froze her in mid-step.

 

She turned, nervously gazing at the closed bathroom door until it opened, revealed a slightly flushed-looking Karolina.

 

“Well,” the blonde said slowly, a soft smile appearing on her lips. “Looks like we're going to be mommies.”

 

Nico crossed the bedroom in the blink of an eye, throwing her arms around Karolina and hugging her tightly. The two of them both started crying, holding onto each other for dear life.

 

“Oh my god, how are we gonna do this, Nico?” Karolina mumbled into Nico's dark hair. With her barefoot and Nico in boots, the height difference wasn't as pronounced as usual.

 

“Together,” Nico said, her voice taut with emotion. “That's how, baby. Together.”

 

Karolina smiled into the jet hair pressing against her face. “You're going to have someone else to call baby soon, you know.”

 

“I'll come up with another name,” replied Nico. “Baby is your name, Kar. Yours only.” They stood there for a few minutes before Nico remembered the bag she had tossed on the bed. “Oh, I got you some shit for your stomach too.”

 

Karolina leaned her head back enough to look into Nico's soft brown eyes. “You're so romantic,” she said softly.

 

Nico smiled back at her. “Only the best for my girlfriend.”

 

“What are we gonna _do_ , Nico?” Karolina asked again, this time her voice quiet and unsure. “We're _kids_. Are we ready to have a baby?”

 

Nico took a deep breath. She had had a significant amount of time to contemplate this very subject on the drive back from the nearest pharmacy, which was a good thirty minutes away. “We're kids who've already fought for our lives more than once, who've stood up to gangs, who've shut down drug houses, who've beaten an interplanetary criminal _and_ battled a syndicate of supervillians—who happen to be our parents—to a standstill. We've lived on our own for nearly seven months. We've fought crooked cops. We've gotten jobs. We've bought groceries and... home stuff. And to be honest, _nobody_ is ever really ready to have that first child.”

 

Karolina nodded. “I just feel like the whole world, the whole universe, is spinning around us right now, and I have no idea where it's going to throw us off.”

 

“Just now? Because I've felt like that for a few years.”

 

“I just—” Karolina stopped suddenly as her eyes welled with tears. Her chest convulsed twice with sobs, and she practically collapsed into Nico's arms.

 

“Don't... don't puke on me,” Nico said weakly. “Please.”

 

Karolina sniffed. “No promises.”

 

—O—

 

The door to Karolina's and Nico's room stayed closed the rest of the evening, until after the sun had gone down.

 

When the latch on their bedroom door was thrown and the door slowly swung open, every pair of eyes in the Hostel was instantly fixated on that one passage.

 

Karolina was the first one out, stopping short when she looked down and saw Gert, Molly, Alex and Chase all seated on different objects in the main hall, all peering eagerly at her. Old Lace, lying on a blanket arranged between Gert's chair and Molly's beanbag, tilted her head slightly, huffed once and ruffled her feather-like spines as she likewise stared up at the landing.

 

Not noticing Karolina stop abruptly, Nico ran into her girlfriend from behind, knocking her forward a step. “Shit!” she swore softly, reaching up to grasp Karolina's arms to steady the blonde. “Sorry, Kar. Everything okay?”

 

“They're all looking at us,” Karolina said, her voice low but easily heard on the lower floor due to the silence. “It's... eerie.”

 

Nico stepped up beside her girlfriend, taking in the tableau of their friends all watching them. “Yeah, that is eerie. Goddess.” She raised her voice and said, “Don't you all have anything better to do?”

 

“Nope,” Chase said flatly; without taking his eyes off them, he reached for a soda on a table beside his chair. Retrieving it, he took a sip, then placed it back on the table.

 

“This is by far the most interesting thing that's happened since, oh, last week,” Alex added.

 

“The shark-squid things?” Molly asked, turning to look at Alex. “Those were pretty crazy.”

 

Nico slid to stand partly in front of Karolina; her right arm came up, and she protectively pressed the palm of her right hand over Karolina's lower abdomen. “Our baby is a _hell_ of a lot more interesting than those stupid shark-squid things!”

 

(“Yes!” Alex quietly hissed, as he drew a mark on something he was holding, but neither Nico nor Karolina noticed.)

 

Nico nearly jumped when she felt Karolina's hand cover her own. She turned to see a beaming smile on the blonde's face as she gazed at Nico. “Kar?”

 

“You said _our_ baby,” Karolina practically cooed. “I have _your_ _baby_ inside me, Nico! Oh my GOD!!” Karolina's body and hair flashed with bright colors for a full second as she literally bounced twice in delight, jumping lightly in place.

 

Down one floor, Gert chewed and swallowed a pinch of cashews. “Technically, it's an embryo or a fetus!” she said, loud enough for Karolina and Nico to hear. Then, quieter, “But this is _so_ much better than cable.”

 

“Or telenovelas,” Molly added at a whisper.

 

Old Lace huffed again. She turned her head toward the smallest of the mammals and opened her mouth, groaning once softly.

 

Molly grinned. She grabbed a large chunk of rotisserie chicken from the snacks table they had set up, then she carefully placed the chicken on Old Lace's slightly protruding tongue, pulling her hand back before the _Deionychus_ started chewing happily.

 

Alex checked the multicolored piece of cardstock he was holding; it had been carefully marked with lines to create a five-by-five grid of squares, some of which were partly colored in. He glanced over at Chase, then at Gert, both of whom had similar papers fastened to clipboards.

 

“Are any of you close to Bingo?” he asked, keeping his voice low.

 

Chase gave him a wary look. “I'm not giving you any clues, Wilder. You'll find out when I win.”

 

“All I need is either Meet the Parents or a marriage proposal and I'll Bingo,” Gert said happily. “You two are _so_ screwed.”

 

“Meet the Parents doesn't count,” Chase quickly said. “They've already met the parents.”

 

“Chase!” Alex hissed. “Shut up! She'll win.”

 

“Right, so it has to be more of a 'Tell the Parents about Nico knocking Karolina up' to fill that square,” Chase clarified.

 

Gert swiveled toward her boyfriend, fixing him with a hot stare. “Oh my God, 'knocking her up,' Chase? Really? That's so disrespectful and objectifying to Karolina! She was an active, consenting sex partner who willingly participated and is _happy_ about this still-very-early pregnancy, not just an innocent bystander who happened to get 'knocked up' while she was walking to the store!”

 

Chase leaned in, nearly knocking his soda over as he started trying to grab Gert's bingo card, saying something about needing to verify that her squares had been filled in correctly. Molly just leaned back, stroked Old Lace's snout and smiled as the shouting began.

 

This really _was_ better than cable.

 

—O—

 

Late that night, Nico awoke without knowing why.

 

“Kar?” she asked, reaching out in front of her. But the bed was empty.

 

Unsure if something was wrong or not, she slid out of bed, not bothering to grab anything to drape over her cutoff shirt and loose sleep shorts. She walked to the bathroom, listening. “Kar? You okay, baby?”

 

Not getting a response, she leaned into the bathroom and turned on the light, but the bathroom was empty.

 

She turned the bathroom light off, then moved back to the bed. When she clicked on the lamp on the nightstand to get dressed, she saw a small pink square of paper on Karolina's pillow, with a single word written on it, in Karolina's flowing script: _Outside_.

 

So nothing terrible, as Karolina hadn't used any of their code words to surreptitiously indicate something was wrong. She had just gone somewhere outside and had left Nico a note telling her as much. That was reassuring to Nico as she stepped over to her nightstand, but not reassuring enough to go back to sleep and wait.

 

She sat down on the edge of the bed and opened the top drawer of the old wooden nightstand, retrieving her sheathed athame and a small woven bracelet with a single silver charm. Nico had made the bracelet with hair from both her and Karolina interwoven with rough cord; the small silver charm attached to the bracelet had been wrapped with Karolina's hair.

 

One interesting thing she had noticed over the last few months was that her Wiccan spells and talismans had gotten _much_ more potent. She wasn't entirely sure why, but it seemed to have begun after she took possession of the Staff of One. Eventually she'd have to look into that, particularly since she wasn't entirely comfortable with the Staff. She respected its power, and she knew as well as felt that the Staff belonged to her now, but there were far too many questions about the Staff for Nico's liking.

 

But that could wait. Karolina couldn't.

 

Nico opened an alcohol wipe (she kept a small stack of them with the athame, for occasions just like this), cleaned the tip of her left ring finger, then gently pricked the skin with the tip of the knife. As a fat drop of blood welled up on the surface of her fingertip, she whispered a brief incantation, then held her finger over the talisman's silver charm.

 

A drop of blood fell onto the charm, quickly soaking into Karolina's light hair, tightly wrapped around the precious metal. Nico let another drop join the first, saturating the golden hair, before she picked up the alcohol wipe and pressed it against the small wound on her finger. She pinched the wipe between the ring finger and thumb, keeping pressure on the small wound to staunch the bleeding. By the time that was done, she could feel the locating talisman begin to grow slightly warmer as she held it in her right hand.

 

She wasn't losing Karolina again. Not ever.

 

—O—

 

Karolina sat at the very top of a large bluff not too far from the Hostel. It was incredibly peaceful out here in the very early morning, with no lights, no cars, no people chattering or yelling. No phones ringing, no notifications chirping. (Although she had left her phone inside to make sure of that.) It was just the natural noises of the desert-like region where they lived now and the silent, dispassionate gaze of millions of stars above her.

 

The soft crunching of footsteps on dirt and loose rocks told her someone was coming, and the lack of any vehicle sounds told her it had to be someone from the Hostel. Her heart, however, told her exactly who it was.

 

The footsteps walked closer, finally becoming softer as the person approaching her stepped up from the packed earth of the dirt road onto the upward-sloping grassy scrub, the steps now softly swishing as legs moved through the sparse plants.

 

“Hey,” Karolina said, not needing to look down.

 

“Hey,” Nico replied, stopping just below the pile of rocks her girlfriend was perched upon, the open face of the cliff just in front of her. “Do I need to climb that?”

 

Karolina turned, her face partly lit by the stars and moon. “It would probably be a bad idea. I don't think these rocks are very stable.” She looked down now, at what appeared to be a black cape, of all things, that Nico had draped over her body, covering her from the neck down. “Is that a cape?”

 

Nico grinned. “Maybe.”

 

“Why do you have a cape?” asked Karolina, trying not to laugh. God, that was SO her girlfriend.

 

“It's a cloak, to be precise. I got it for Halloween one year. I think I was a witch. Or maybe Darth Vader.”

 

“Sounds on-theme. And what, you just kind of kept it? Just in case?”

 

“Well, yeah. Don't you?”

 

Because it was dark, Karolina knew Nico couldn't see her roll her eyes.

 

“Don't roll your eyes at me.”

 

Karolina laughed once. “Excuse me?”

 

“I heard you roll your eyes at me.”

 

“You can't hear somebody roll her eyes!”

 

“I can you.”

 

That made Karolina stop and consider the possibility of her girlfriend's statement being true. “Uh uh, I call bullshit on that one, hon,” she finally said.

 

“Damn,” Nico softly swore, her voice light, before her tone became serious again. “Just needing some time to think?”

 

Karolina nodded, immediately before remembering Nico couldn't see her. She thought. “Yeah. It's really pretty and peaceful out here at night once the planes stop flying.”

 

“Cold, too.”

 

“What are you wearing under your cape?”

 

“Wouldn't you like to know?”

 

“Oh god, Nico,” Karolina said, unable to keep from giggling. “Please tell me you didn't come out _just_ wearing that.” _Because I might have a heart attack and die._

 

“I have on shoes.”

 

“Of course. Are you trying to turn me on or something? Because you already do that pretty darn well.”

 

“That is _completely_ my plan, to seduce you out here. Hey, it's not like you can get _more_ pregnant, right?”

 

Karolina laughed in reply, the sound like angels singing (whether Nico believed in them or not was irrelevant, because she believed in _Karolina_ ), and in the pale moonlight falling upon them, the blonde looked like a goddess.

 

Nico cleared her throat, struggling to keep her emotions under control. “Actually... I thought you might just want someone to sit with you. Keep you company.”

 

“Thus, I walked outside in the middle of the night. By myself.”

 

Nico hesitated. Was she overstepping her bounds? Being overprotective? “I—“ she began, stopping when she realized she really didn't know what to say here.

 

“Nico. I'm just teasing you, hon.”

 

“You don't mind if I sit with you?”

 

Karolina smiled again. “I'd love to sit out here under the stars with the father-mother of my child.”

 

“Okay, that sounds a bit weird,” Nico said. “Hang on, I'll come to you.”

 

“Nico. The rocks. You'll fall. It's not safe to climb them.”

 

“Then why are you sitting on them?”

 

“Because I can fly.”

 

Nico laughed once. She walked away from the rocks, but moved a little closer to the edge of the bluff. “The footing around here looks _really_ unstable. And it's dark, too...”

 

“Nico...” Karolina said, her tone of voice warning her girlfriend.

 

“I'm just saying, if someone who could _fly_ would be kind enough to come down here and pick me up, I wouldn't have to risk falling off this cliff trying to find a way up that unstable pile of rocks to get to my girlfriend.”

 

Before Nico had even finished, Karolina had illuminated and was swooping down to grab her before she got any closer to the edge of the cliff or the pile of rocks.

 

“I can't take you anywhere,” Karolina said teasingly as she wrapped her arms around Nico, the two of them both upright and facing each other as Karolina slowly flew them up to the top of the rock pile, but as she started to steer them over to the apex of the rocks, Nico smiled and shook her head _No_ as her hands grasped the top of Karolina's pants, letting her hold onto her girlfriend while still keeping the cloak wrapped tightly to her body.

 

“Keep going,” Nico said softly, smiling as she pressed a kiss against Karolina's throat, then repeating the action on the other side. The luminous skin felt warm beneath her lips, leaving her mouth softly tingling as Nico nuzzled her face against her girlfriend's neck.

 

Karolina took in several somewhat irregular breaths as she ascended, thoroughly distracted by what was Nico was doing to her neck; she still had the sense of mind to fly them farther away from the Hostel before she started steeply climbing into the blackness of the night sky, to minimize the chance of anyone trying to backtrack her flight path. She and Nico were too small to show up on radar, but satellite imaging was incredibly effective.

 

After several minutes they were nearly a mile above the rocky scrub, farther away from the edge of the city than the Hostel itself.

 

“Is this high enough?” Karolina asked, honestly curious.

 

Adjusting the edges of the cloak to better cover her hands, Nico tried to suppress a shiver, without much success.

 

“Nico... You're cold, hon. We should—”

 

“I'm good,” the petite witch said, pressing as much of her body to Karolina's luminous warmth as she could. “I want to look at this with you, just for a bit.”

 

She lifted her head up and took in the incredible sight draped over them as Karolina did the same; not just above them but all around them, stars twinkled and shone, diamonds of fire shining proudly through the nearly infinite darkness of space.

 

They were both quiet for a few minutes, save for soft breathing as they held each other and marveled at the universe and all it contained.

 

“Karolina,” Nico finally said, her voice oddly nervous.

 

The glowing woman looked away from the stars to something even more beautiful. “Yeah?”

 

Nico sighed, closing her eyes briefly, and that simple gesture told Karolina that whatever Nico was about to say, she was afraid. But being Nico, she wasn't going to run from it.

 

“I think...” Nico began, her lips quirking to the side slightly as she tried to consider her words carefully. Maybe more carefully than anything she had ever spoken. “I think... I know what you were thinking about. Before I found you.”

 

Karolina didn't glance away from Nico's earnest gaze. Her girlfriend didn't drop all her barriers and walls, didn't make herself emotionally vulnerable, for anyone except for her. And that was exactly what Nico was doing right now.

 

Rather than reply verbally, Karolina closed her eyes and leaned her head forward and slightly down, pressing her forehead lightly against Nico's as she fought the swell of guilt and shame that had accumulated inside her. The smaller woman closed her eyes as well, as they simply held each other for several seconds.

 

“I'm going to be with you no matter what,” Nico whispered. “No matter what you choose.”

 

Karolina felt tears well up in her eyes, and she closed her eyes more tightly. God, Nico really _did_ know what she was thinking sometimes.

 

“It's your body, Karolina. That makes it your choice. Just remember, _I love you._ Nothing will change how I feel about you, I swear.”

 

“You can't say that, Nico.”

 

“Sure I can. Because I mean it.”

 

Now Karolina shivered. “I”m scared, Nico,” she admitted, her breath softly fogging as she breathed out. “I just turned eighteen today. I'm still in high school. Well, I was. I guess we've dropped out now. And I'm _pregnant_.”

 

“And you're not going to be alone. No matter what you want to do.”

 

Karolina felt her chest tighten and her breath grow ragged. A burn began deep in her chest, below her sternum, and she was _afraid,_ God, she was _so afraid_ right now _._

 

“Do you... Do you want this baby?” she finally asked Nico.

 

“It's not my decision, Kar.”

 

“No. But it _is_ your baby, just as much as mine.”

 

Karolina shivered when she felt cool lips press against her own. She pressed back, squeezing Nico even tighter to her as they kissed, tears mingling as they slid across their lips, and Karolina felt herself tremble as she waited on what Nico was about to say, because either way, it would forever change their lives.

 

“Yes,” Nico whispered against Karolina's lips. “I would love to have and raise this baby with you, Karolina Dean.”

 

Karolina felt the dam of self-recriminations and fear she had built in her heart over the last few hours explode, shattered by Nico's soft, heartfelt words. All the worry about Nico leaving her, of Nico resenting her, of this pregnancy destroying them because Nico shouldn't be forced to yield all the opportunity that lay within the rest of her life just to stay with Karolina because of a child. All of those horrible, punishing, self-doubting thoughts were burned away in the cleansing flame of Nico's love and acceptance.

 

She had felt selfish at finally making the decision to keep this baby without talking to Nico about what _she_ wanted, about tying Nico to her and to their child from now on. She also felt ashamed she had seriously considered ending the pregnancy, ashamed for being afraid of the stark reality of becoming a mother before she turned nineteen.

 

But Nico would understand. God help her, Nico DID understand. She had just said as much, and she didn't hate Karolina for her doubts or her fears.

 

Instead of running away, Nico had embraced her, guiding her up where the darkness and the lights, their counterparts, existed in harmony together.

 

“I want to keep this baby, too,” she said, looking at Nico proudly. “I want to feel this part of you grow inside me. I want to bring this little creature we made together into the world, and I want to make this world better for her.”

 

“How do you know it's a her?”

 

“Genetics. Neither of us has a Y chromosome. Maybe if you hadn't slept and doodled in Bio 2, you'd know this.”

 

“Oh, don't get smart with me. Just because you're pregnant with my baby doesn't give you that right.”

 

Karolina smirked before quickly kissing Nico's lips. “Yeah, it does. The sooner you accept that, the smoother this pregnancy will go.”

 

“I'm fucked,” Nico groaned, making Karolina's entire body shake with laughter.

 

“Getting fucked is a fringe benefit. You've got that, at least.”

 

“Hmm. Well, that's a really good fringe benefit. I suppose it'll do.”

 

Satisfied, they both let themselves grow quiet again, just gazing at the stars as they held each other for some time.

 

“Thank you for coming to check on me,” Karolina said softly, placing a lingering kiss on Nico's forehead.

 

Nico opened her eyes and looked into the swirling pink and blue and gold of Karolina's gaze. “Well, yeah. I love you.”

 

“Did you use that locating charm you made?”

 

“Of course.” Nico lifted her right hand, revealing the bracelet clasped around her slender wrist. “Not losing you again, baby. We're a package deal.”

 

The grin that spread across Karolina's face was indescribable in its giddy joy. “Yes,” she said proudly. “We are.”

 

They continued to stare at the glittering stars for a few more seconds until Nico shivered again, this time longer and more forcefully.

 

“Okay, time to get you warmed up,” Karolina said, shifting her body as they hovered, angling until they were pointed downward. She accelerated then, going in a direction farther away from the Hostel; once she was at ground level, she could change direction and fly them directly home.

 

Curious, Karolina looked down at Nico, who continued to stare lovingly at her. “Did you really come out here just wearing a cape and boots?”

 

Nico adjusted her left hand's grip on Karolina's pants, making sure it was secure, then she used her right hand to pull Karolina's left arm loose from where it was holding Nico. She took Karolina's hand and guided it beneath the fluttering velvet fabric of the cloak.

 

“OH!” Karolina squeaked, somehow managing to blush despite glowing.

 

Nico smirked. “Had to give you a good reason to come back inside."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, the first of the parents gets the news, and Karolina and Nico try to find an ob/gyn who's experienced in magical same-sex one-fourth-extraterrestrial babies with possible superpowers. And who takes cash.


	3. Common Ground, Burial Ground

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll just go ahead and declare that this is going to run longer than five chapters. I'm loving writing these two far too much.

_Dressed up to the eyes, it's a wonderful surprise_

_To see your shoes and your spirits rise_

_Throwing out your frown and just smiling at the sound_

_Sleek as a sheikh, spinning round and round_

_Always take a big bite, it's such a gorgeous sight_

_To see you eat in the middle of the night_

_You can never get enough, enough of this stuff_

_It's Friday, I'm in love_

 

\--The Cure, “Friday I'm in Love”

 

 

—O—

—O—

 

 

“Are you sure about this?” asked Nico as she worked her fingers through Karolina's soapy hair.

 

The warm spray of the shower felt delicious, a strong contrast from the cool air that defiantly swirled in around the heavy shower curtain, as she stood just behind her girlfriend, helping a kneeling Karolina while the blonde worked her shampoo through her wet hair.

 

“Of course I'm not _sure_ about it,” Karolina said over the rush of the water's spray. “But I think it's what we need to do. We should learn all we can before this baby's born.” She lifted her head as they finished, pushing her hair back and over, then she stood, turned around, carefully blinking open her eyes. She was rewarded with the sight of a dripping Nico, her jet hair flattened and slicked back from the water, no makeup, her face shining and her eyes a rich, earthy brown under the bright light suspended over their shower.

 

God, her girlfriend was beautiful.

 

Karolina took a step forward, enough for their bodies to brush against each other. She lifted her arms, draping them across Nico's shoulders as Nico moved even closer, pressing her body against Karolina's as she lifted her own arms, washing the shampoo off her hands in the shower's spray as it hit Karolina's back.

 

“Here,” Karolina said, “you're getting cold.”

 

“Yeah, 'cause you're hogging all the hot water.”

 

Karolina's lips pursed in a tiny little o of mock outrage. “Hey!”

 

Nico grinned, and that was something else that Karolina couldn't put into words, just how beautiful that expression was when her girlfriend did it.

 

Karolina temporarily activated her powers, filling the white shower and tub with a disco's worth of swirling color and light. She easily rotated as she hovered, moving the now-weightless Nico between her and the hot water of the shower's spray, then she let Nico find her footing (which the smaller woman now knew how to do as a reflex) before Karolina turned her powers back off, returning the shower to its stark white color.

 

“I don't want you freezing to death on me,” Karolina said with a loving smile as she reached just outside the thick shower curtains with her right hand and grabbed a small towel designed for drying hair. She piled her hair into the short towel, then wrung it dry, keeping her eyes closed and humming softly to herself as she worked.

 

Nico watched Karolina's face, waiting until the blonde's eyes closed as she started drying her hair in preparation for applying the conditioner. Now that the spray was at Nico's back, she could take full advantage of their height difference.

 

Karolina started to let her thoughts wander as she patiently wrung her hair dry, but that was very quickly interrupted when she felt warm lips cover her left nipple, lightly sucking on it. “God, Nico,” she whispered as her body shivered; her left hand dropped to gently grasp the back of Nico's head, softly encouraging her girlfriend to keep doing what she was doing.

 

She looked down, and the sight of Nico's face pressed to her chest nearly made her orgasm right there.

 

Nico's lips gently released Karolina's nipple with a soft pop that was lost in the rush of the shower spray. She smirked up at Karolina as she straightened up again. “Sorry,” she said lightly. “Couldn't help myself there.”

 

“Tease!” Karolina squeaked as she easily plucked the bottle of conditioner she preferred from the the tiled shelf built into the top of their large shower.

 

“Yeah, but I'm _your_ tease, at least,” Nico said, standing on her tip toes to retrieve her shampoo but missing it on her first try.

 

“Yes, you are,” Karolina said with a smile. “Want me to hand that to you?” she asked innocently.

 

Nico finally grabbed her shampoo, then she turned her head to look at the stunning blonde. “Who was it that put my shampoo and conditioner up here again?”

 

“Must have been Old Lace,” Karolina said, recapping the top on her conditioner and replacing it on the shelf. She started working the handful of creamy conditioner into her thick hair as she turned around, hiding her smile from Nico.

 

They were both quiet for a few minutes while each of them worked on their hair, Nico washing hers, Karolina conditioning hers. Nico was still working the peach and jasmine scented shampoo into her dark hair when she felt long fingers join her in washing her head.

 

She smiled and lifted her head slightly, letting Karolina step up against her from behind. “Thanks, beautiful,” she said as Karolina's fingertips carefully and thoroughly worked their way across Nico's scalp. Nico's hands didn't contribute much to the effort, truthfully, as they were more intent on caressing Karolina's hands as they worked through the shorter woman's hair.

 

“There you go,” Karolina said, withdrawing her soapy hands from Nico's lathered hair and pausing until Nico had stepped forward, positioning her head beneath the shower's spray. As soon as the water was rinsing the shampoo out of Nico's hair, Karolina quickly smacked her on the butt.

 

“Kar!” Nico yelped, more out of surprise than anything. She whirled around to see a grinning Karolina nearly doubled over with laughter at Nico's expression.

 

Nico turned back around and grabbed the removable shower head.

 

“Nico! _No_ , Nico, the conditioner hasn't set yet, Ni—!”

 

The spray of the water in her face cut off Karolina's words but not her laughing and happy shrieking, as she covered her face while Nico aimed the water directly at her head, taking care to only spray her lover straight-on.

 

Karolina didn't like getting water in her ears. Nico respected that.

 

Finally relenting from spraying her girlfriend, Nico turned the sprayer back on her own hair, finishing rinsing it out.

 

Karolina blinked behind her hands, finally daring to part her fingers and peek through them. “That wasn't very nice,” she said, still grinning through her teeth.

 

Nico continued rinsing her hair. “I'm not very nice.”

 

Karolina retrieved Nico's conditioner from the high shelf, handing it to Nico in exchange for the shower head. “You are to me,” she said, a soft quality to her voice.

 

“Well,” Nico said, starting to work a ridiculous amount of conditioner into her hair, “you _are_ carrying my child. And there's the whole issue of me loving you. Which I do, in case you were wondering.”

 

Karolina reached over Nico, pressing her left hand to the tiled wall of the shower for balance, and placed the shower head back on its holder. She grabbed a washcloth from the stand just outside the shower and wet it in the shower's warm stream of water, then she carefully wiped Nico's face, removing the excess conditioner, taking extra care around Nico's eyes.

 

Nico turned around, placing her face beneath the warm stream of water, carefully rinsing any remaining conditioner away before blinking her eyes open. She turned around to see Karolina standing just behind her, gazing at her adoringly.

 

“I know you're ready for the doctor's appointment, but are you ready to deal with your mom today?” Nico asked, extending her right arm in invitation to the blonde.

 

Karolina quickly stepped forward, letting Nico steer the blonde around her so that the shower was striking the taller woman's back. Now spared from most of the spray from the shower, Nico stepped into Karolina's open arms, sighing happily as her girlfriend's arms closed around her.

 

“You're going to be with me,” Karolina murmured. “I can handle anything when you're with me. That includes my mom.”

 

“She is going to _freak_ the _fuck_ out,” Nico said, her lips brushing against Karolina's right breast. “When you tell her.”

 

“When WE tell her.”

 

“She was already half in denial about us being together.”

 

“She had just found her mom and then kind of lost her again. I think she had to process a lot after her rescue.”

 

Nico sighed. “She's never liked me.”

 

“She's never understood you.”

 

“Eh, that's fair. Nobody ever really did. Except you.”

 

“Because I was in love with you.”

 

Nico leaned back slightly to look up into Karolina's soft blue eyes. “Because you're the kindest, most loving person there is,” she said.

 

“Nico,” Karolina said tenderly. “You're just as worthy of love as anyone. We're all different. That's not a bad thing.” She smiled and placed a kiss on Nico's forehead. “You're my little prickly pear cactus. All needles and stabby on the outside, but sweet and juicy on the inside.”

 

The expression on Nico's face suggested Karolina might have lost her mind, which made the blonde laugh as she reached behind her to grab the shower head again.

 

She turned around and started rinsing the conditioner out of Nico's hair as the raven-haired woman helped. “And when the cactus's flowers bloom,” Karolina continued, “they're the most beautiful flowers you could ever imagine, these deep, rich yellow and orange blooms.”

 

Nico paused, tilting her head enough to blink one eye open and stare up at Karolina. “You've put a lot of thought into this cactus analogy,” she said. “I'm impressed.”

 

Karolina braved the shower spray to lean in and press a kiss to Nico's temple. “You're worth the effort,” she said with a sunny smile.

 

—O—

 

Nico Minoru was not a fan of loud, obnoxious children. This was why she steadfastly refused to even consider any jobs that required dealing with loud, obnoxious children and their usually equally obnoxious parents. This approach worked for her.

 

Which is why she felt her ire, along with her blood pressure, rising at the moment.

 

She and Karolina had been in the waiting room of the obstetrician they had finally chosen for a little over ten minutes, the first seven of which had been perfectly fine.

 

When they had arrived, there had only been two other women waiting, one with a baby stroller and another that looked like she was going to need one in the next few days. Both were young, in their twenties it appeared, and they both simply gave polite smiles to the sight of Karolina in her white floral crochet crop top, flared jeans and sandals holding hands with Nico, in a sleek black miniskirt dress, a black leather half-jacket, black fishnet stockings and calf-high black leather boots with multiple silver buckles. Karolina's hair was pulled back and held in place with a woven rainbow hairband; Nico's hair had been pulled up and back, tied into a flared topknot. Karolina had removed her Wayfarer sunglasses upon entering the office building, tucking them into a front pocket of her jeans, but Nico was still wearing her rounded metal sunglasses with black lenses, along with a black lace choker topped with a silver pentacle charm dangling at the front. The only ornamentation Karolina was wearing was a simple gold necklace with a tiny opal at the front, one of her favorites.

 

(The fact that Nico had given her that necklace as a birthday gift years ago, before the tragedy of Amy's death, might have had something to do with Karolina's fondness for it.)

 

They had walked in, politely signed Karolina's name on the marked clipboard at the receptionist's window, and taken their seats. Nico had glanced beside them at one of the magazines, _Modern Homemakers_ , snorted in disgust and simply held onto Karolina's hand. Karolina had grinned shyly, lifted their clasped hands to place a kiss on Nico's knuckles, and quietly sat, rocking her left leg where it was crossed over her right.

 

It was quiet. The temperature was surprisingly comfortable. The lights weren't too bright. There was a pleasant, clean smell to the room, and soft music played from a speaker in one corner of the office. Things had been good. Until the next patient arrived.

 

The woman herself looked to be in her late fifties or early sixties, obviously present for more the gynecology part of the practice than the obstetrics. Her gaze lingered a bit longer than typical upon Nico and Karolina, but she smiled politely and, after signing in, took a seat directly across from Nico and Karolina with approximately two meters of open carpet between her and the two teenagers.

 

The older woman seemed pleasant. Her grandson, however, was entirely different.

 

“That girl looks scary!” he hissed to his grandmother, not bothering to disguise his stare at Nico's striking appearance.

 

“Hush, Calvin,” the older woman said quietly. “Manners.”

 

The boy looked to be about seven or eight, and he kept looking pointedly at Nico and Karolina, back from one to the other.

 

“That blonde girl is pretty,” he whispered loudly to his grandmother. “Why is she holding hands with the scary girl?”

 

As Nico's right hand slid to reach into her coat, Karolina gave her girlfriend's left hand a squeeze. “Nico!” she whispered. “Don't use the Staff in here. Please.”

 

Nico's groan of annoyance was audible, but she slowly withdrew her right hand from inside her jacket. She gave Karolina a pointed look that very clearly said _the-things-I-do-for-you_. In return, Karolina gave her a grin that made Nico's chest grow warm.

 

“I love you,” Karolina said, leaning closer to Nico, still smiling proudly.

 

Well. If Karolina wanted to kiss her in public, Nico sure as hell wasn't ashamed of her girlfriend.

 

She turned and softly met Karolina's lips with her own, keeping the kiss chaste but clearly intimate.

 

“Mimi!” hissed the little boy. “Those two girls just _kissed!”_

 

“Calvin!” shushed the grandmother. “You're being rude!”

 

“But _why did they kiss?!”_ he hissed, whispering loud enough for the entire exam room to hear.

 

“Probably because they love each other!” she replied in an angry whisper. “Now stop it, or I won't take you for ice cream once my doctor's appointment is over!”

 

Thoroughly chastised, the sullen boy plopped down on his bottom, arms crossed. He glared angrily at the two girls sitting just a short distance away, still holding hands.

 

The blonde moved her left hand over, to rub the other girl's hand that was clasped with her right hand, then she looked off at something in the far corner of the reception area, smiling a happy smile.

 

The black-haired girl, on the other hand, was wearing sunglasses with small round lenses, shiny black in color, and she seemed to be staring directly at Calvin through those black lenses. Her expression was stony, her black lips set in a tight line across her face.

 

Calvin felt sweat begin to form on his back. He didn't like the way the scary girl was looking at him. He wasn't sure she was looking at him, due to those sunglasses that she was wearing inside ( _why was she wearing them inside_ ), but he definitely felt like she was staring directly at him behind those dark lenses.

 

The black-haired girl just kept looking in his direction, one of her crossed legs the only part of her that was moving, bobbing very slightly up and down, a big, heavy boot covering her foot and part of her lower leg.

 

Calvin shifted slightly in the padded chair, getting a warning squeeze to his wrist from his grandmother, who still seemed to be upset with him. Maybe it wasn't too late to do better. He wanted some ice cream.

 

But that girl with the black hair, and the black lips, and the black boots, and the black clothes and the black glasses kept staring at him.

 

Calvin shivered bodily, unable to tear his eyes away from the scary girl.

 

Slowly the black-haired girl's right hand began to move upward. Calvin froze, a cold trickle of sweat sliding down his back as he watched her right hand creep upward, up to the level of her chest, still rising. Now it was up to her chin, and her fingers started to fan out as she reached for the side of her sunglasses.

 

He swallowed, frozen in place from fear.

 

Black-colored fingernails grasped the delicate metal frame of the sunglasses. Slowly, agonizingly, those black lenses slid down, revealing intense, dark eyes fixated on him.

 

Then those eyes suddenly turned purple-red.

 

The boy screamed. He dove under the chair, quivering with fear.

 

“CALVIN!” shrieked the grandmother, startled by her bratty grandchild's sudden panic. She looked over at the two women sitting together. The blonde looked utterly shocked, mouth wide open and eyes equally wide at the boy's behavior. The dark-haired woman remained unfazed behind her sunglasses, continuing to calmly hold the blonde's hand as she sat quietly.

 

“Ms. Dean?” called a nurse from a door that had just opened.

 

Karolina turned to look at Nico. “I _really_ can't take you anywhere,” she whispered quickly, the expression on her face torn between embarrassment and amusement. She stood, tugging Nico up and leading her out of the reception area before she could traumatize anyone else.

 

The nurse taking them back looked young, not much older than the two of them. “New patient appointment?”

 

“Kind of,” Nico said, at the same time Karolina said, “Yes!”

 

The two of them looked at each other, then Karolina spun back around to face the nurse. “We're pregnant. I mean, I'M pregnant.”

 

“Congratulations!” said the nurse, who seemed genuinely happy. “That's always the best reason to come here.” She pressed a button on the electronic scale; it beeped once. “Please step up here,” she said, moving to the side.

 

“Do NOT look,” Karolina said to Nico, pointing a finger at her girlfriend, who rolled her eyes but obediently turned around as the blonde stepped up onto the scale.

 

“Excellent,” said the nurse, who then measured Karolina's height, jotting the measurement down into the paper chart.

 

“We're really interested in a home birth with a midwife if possible,” Karolina said. “That was one of the big things we liked about this practice.” She took Nico's hand again as the nurse led them down a hall.

 

“Along with taking cash,” Nico muttered.

 

“We also like the fact that you take your patients' privacy seriously,” added Karolina. “And we'd like to ask the doctor or midwife a few more questions about the security measures you take with patient records.”

 

The nurse stopped at an exam room, gesturing for them to step inside. Nico paused to let Karolina go first, following her girlfriend without releasing her hand.

 

“All your providers seem well-experienced,” Karolina continued as the nurse began wrapping a blood pressure cuff around her upper arm after she and Nico had taken their seats. Nico finally removed her sunglasses, sliding them into an inner pocket on the right side of her jacket.

 

“All the doctors and nurse-midwives are fantastic,” the nurse replied. “Is this a first baby for the two of you?”

 

“Yeah,” Karolina nodded. She turned to Nico. “Do you want more after this one?” she asked, nearly bouncing in excitement.

 

“Uhh, let's get past this one first, Kar,” Nico replied. “We've got some time to decide.”

 

Karolina was still long enough for the nurse to take her blood pressure, then she leaned over and whispered in Nico's ear. “You would look _so cute_ with a little baby bump.”

 

Thoughts of Tina Minoru flashed in Nico's mind's eye, but she carefully grabbed those thoughts and shoved them back down. She wasn't letting her bitch of a mother intrude on this moment for Karolina and her. Nico turned her head so that she could lightly rub noses with Karolina. “I... would be willing to consider it,” she whispered, surprised when she realized that she didn't immediately think that was a terrible idea.

 

Somehow Karolina's smile grew even wider; Nico was half-expecting the blonde's powers to spontaneously manifest, she looked so thrilled.

 

“I would absolutely spoil you rotten,” Karolina whispered back to Nico.

 

“I don't doubt it,” replied Nico. _What the hell,_ she thought. “Maybe one day, okay?” Seeing Karolina's giddy expression and that fucking _adorable_ toothy grin that meant her girlfriend was ecstatic told Nico she had definitely said the right thing.

 

And maybe it wouldn't be so bad, one day.

 

The nurse excused herself as she finished making the notations into the chart, closing the door behind her.

 

Karolina turned her entire body to nearly face Nico. “I know even thinking about that's crazy, because we still have _so much_ to get through with this first baby, but, Nico...”

 

Karolina's blue eyes began to water as her face grew serious. “I want to have so many kids with you, Nico. SO MANY. And I want us to give them all the love, all the acceptance, and all the support that we deserved but never got.”

 

“Kar, baby, you're scaring me a bit with this talk about so many kids...”

 

Karolina laughed, wiping at her eyes.

 

“...But no matter how many kids we have, absolutely we're going to love them and accept them and support them.”

 

Karolina nodded.

 

“And if they fly, you're going to have to catch them.”

 

The blonde laughed at the mental image of Nico, trying to jump up and grab a glowing baby hovering just out of reach. “Thank you.”

 

“For what?”

 

“Making me laugh when I need it.”

 

A knock sounded at the door, followed by the light gray door swinging open to reveal a modestly-built woman in her mid- to late-forties. Her blonde hair was fading into white, but her green eyes were sharp behind her simple black glasses.

 

“Ms. Dean?” the older woman asked.

 

“Yes!” Karolina said, standing up and shaking the woman's hand, with Nico standing a moment later. “And this is my girlfriend, Nico Minoru.”

 

“Hello,” said the woman, shaking Nico's hand as well. “I'm Dr. Lindell. The ladies up front said that yours was a bit of an unusual case, I hear.”

 

“That's putting it mildly,” Nico muttered.

 

“We see same-sex couples all the time, Ms. Dean. It's really nothing out of the ordinary now.”

 

“Please, call me Karolina and her Nico. And we're very aware of how much you and your office support the LGBTQ community here in Los Angeles. That's a huge reason why we're here.”

 

Karolina glanced at Nico before she continued. “We're also here because you and your office came highly recommended by some friends of my father, Frank Dean, who really didn't want any of the usual publicity that comes with celebrities.”

 

The obstetrician nodded. “Being the daughter of a movie star, you'd prefer to keep this fairly quiet?”

 

“Well... kind of, but not exactly,” Karolina said.

 

Nico leaned forward slightly. “Dr. Lindell, eighteen months ago you turned down an offer from the charity PRIDE to purchase this office.”

 

The older woman looked at Nico with new curiosity. “What did you say your name was again?”

 

Nico smiled, taking care to make it friendly. “Nico Minoru. And before you ask, yes, Tina is my mother, and no, we do not get along.”

 

“Ahh,” the doctor said, a guarded smile beginning on her face.

 

“Another reason why we chose you is that you said no to PRIDE,” Nico continued. “And I remember my mother being angrier than usual at how you couldn't be bought. So Karolina and I felt you could be trusted to take care of us and our baby.”

 

Dr. Lindell nodded. “I appreciate the vote of confidence.”

 

“We also like that you work with midwives,” said Karolina. “I'd love to do a home birth if we could.”

 

“Well, you certainly seem healthy enough. Your vitals were excellent. Any chronic medical issues?”

 

“Not really.”

 

“Did the two of you use an anonymous sperm donor, or do you have awareness of the donor's medical history?”

 

Nico and Karolina briefly looked at each other before they both turned back to face the doctor, who was admittedly intrigued at this point. If this Nico had grown up with Tina Minoru as a parent, she could see why the girl had built a very obvious wall between herself and the rest of the world.

 

“We know the medical history of the other parent,” Karolina said lightly.

 

“Excellent,” replied the doctor. “Any significant problems in the donor's family?”

 

“Not really,” said Nico. “My dad's blood pressure is a bit high, but he's not had to take any medication for it so far.”

 

“You used a relative for a donor? That's very sweet.” Dr. Lindell continued to make notes, but the pen stopped when she heard one of the young women clear her throat.

 

“We... didn't use a relative,” the dark-haired woman said slowly. “ _I'm_ the other parent.”

 

The doctor didn't miss a beat, remarkably. “Ah, are you transgender?” she asked calmly, as if she dealt with this sort of matter every day. Which, to be fair, might have been the case. “Sometimes that works out perfectly.”

 

“I'm not,” Nico said patiently.

 

As the doctor looked up, she saw obvious concern on the face of the two young women facing her. They were holding hands, obviously trying to draw strength from each other.

 

The blonde sighed softly. “We have a... unique situation, Dr. Lindell,” she spoke quietly.

 

“Two of them,” Nico added, just as softly, getting a series of quick nods from the blonde.

 

“What we tell you has to be a secret, correct?” asked the blonde. “You can't tell anyone?”

 

“I'm not allowed to disclose any patient information. I do have to record pertinent information in the chart for record-keeping purposes, though.” The doctor leaned back slightly against the exam table behind her, unsure where the two young women were going with this.

 

“Well,” continued the blonde, who was looking increasingly nervous, “what we're about to tell you, we'd really like for you to NOT record in the chart.”

 

“If it's a matter of substance dependence or misuse, I'd have to record it, but I assure you it wouldn't leave this office, presuming you were already taking steps to address that matter during this pregnancy.”

 

“It's not that!” Karolina said quickly. “It's not... anything bad. We promise.”

 

“Ms. Dean,” said Dr. Lindell, catching herself and smiling. “Karolina. I'm not going to judge you. Either of you. Obviously, whatever this is you're hesitant to tell me is of great importance, and you think that it has bearing on this pregnancy, or you wouldn't be wanting to tell me.”

 

She looked carefully at the two women sitting in front of her; God bless, they looked _so young_. She looked at the chart again. Karolina was eighteen. _Just_ turned eighteen.

 

So maybe their parents didn't know. That would certainly explain the nervousness, especially if Tina Minoru was one of the parents.

 

“According to the website, you've been in practice for twenty years, right, Dr. Lindell?” asked Karolina.

 

“That's right. It'll be twenty-one in July.”

 

“So you've seen pretty much everything?”

 

“There's always room to learn, but I've definitely seen a lot.” She smiled. “Some I wish I could take back.”

 

Karolina looked at Nico; the smaller woman gave a quick nod and squeezed the blonde's hand in support. “Okay, what I'm about to show you,” she said, slowly rising from the chair. “Well... just try not to freak out, okay?”

 

The doctor nodded, trying to be prepared for anything.

 

And then the room lit up in a swirl of soft, glowing colors.

 

Alison Lindell had indeed seen a lot over her career. That had been no exaggeration on her part. But _this,_ she had not expected.

 

“My God...” she swore softly, her mouth opening in amazement as she took in the young woman who stood in front of her, skin and hair glowing pink and blue and yellow and violet, the hues shifting and blending as she watched.

 

Then the colors were gone, and a beautiful but otherwise unremarkable young woman stood in front of her once more.

 

Karolina took her seat again, immediately seeking out and latching onto Nico's hand once more. “I'm... I'm half-alien. A race called Majesdanians. They're incredibly similar to humans in appearance and physiology, from what I can tell. But there are some... differences. As you can see.”

 

“I've seen you,” said Dr. Lindell, her voice a mere whisper.

 

“What?!” Karolina and Nico both said at once.

 

“On the news. You saved a family from drowning, after their car was washed away in a flash flood two weeks ago. The footage was blurry because of the heavy rain, but it was an incredible sight. I remember those colors very well.”

 

Karolina leaned forward at her waist. “So you can see why we'd prefer to keep this part of my life out of the medical charts.”

 

“How does your body do that?” asked the doctor.

 

Karolina blinked. “I... I don't know. I really don't.”

 

She turned to Nico. “We have to remember to ask my mom about that. If there's anything she can tell us.”

 

_About Jonah._

 

Nico nodded, swallowing the bitterness that even thinking his name summoned.

 

“And that brings up the other thing...” Karolina said, her voice yanking Nico out of the downward spiral of guilt and self-recriminations before she could descend too far. “About this pregnancy.” She looked directly at Dr. Lindell. “It's actually Nico's baby, too. No donors. No penises. It was... magic.”

 

Nico pulled the Staff of One out of her jacket; with a thought, the artifact instantly assumed its full length, the circular brassy headpiece nearly glowing under the bright fluorescent bulbs.

 

Or maybe it actually _was_ glowing.

 

“Sweet God, I've seen footage of you, too,” whispered Dr. Lindell. “Always at a distance, but I remember the zoom images of that... thing. You stopped a gang fight by turning their guns into water pistols.”

 

Nico grinned. “Yeah, that was a pretty good one.”

 

“That was _my_ idea!” said the blonde, grinning.

 

“It was _kind of_ your idea.”

 

“It was _mostly_ my idea!”

 

“Maybe half your idea.”

 

Karolina leaned over, pressing the side of her head against the shoulder of Nico's leather jacket, blinking her blue eyes at her girlfriend.

 

Nico was quiet for a few seconds; finally, she sighed. “Alright, it was your idea,” she admitted.

 

Karolina popped upright again. “Yes, it was.” She leaned back over and placed a kiss on Nico's temple. “You should probably put the Staff back up, hon.”

 

“Yeah, probably,” Nico agreed. It instantly shrank back to its smaller size; Nico quietly tucked it away in her jacket once more.

 

“Do you two live with your families?”

 

“Define 'family',” Nico said with a wry smile.

 

“We live with each other,” Karolina said, taking Nico's hand again. “And with the family we've chosen, the family we've built together... not the ones we were born with.”

 

Alison looked at the two young women in front of her closely. They were kids. Brave, absolutely, but kids who clearly had to grow up quickly. They were obviously partners, romantically as well as... professionally, she supposed. They were going to be parents. And they risked their lives to help others.

 

And helping them would likely piss off Tina Minoru.

 

“I'd be happy to take care of you and your baby, Karolina, Nico,” Alison said. “And I promise that I'll only include medical information in your chart, with nothing that would indicate that you two are anything more than excited soon-to-be mothers.”

 

Karolina reached over and covered the doctor's hand with her left hand, which was free at the moment. “We understand that you'll have to tell one of your midwives. Obviously the one you trust the most. Or if you'd like, we can tell her today. We really want to do the home birth if possible, when the time comes.”

 

“But no one else needs to know about where we live, or what we do,” Nico added. “Anyone who knows is potentially in danger. It's not just us who are at risk with what we do. It's anyone who knows us.”

 

“I'm... not sure what to do about any blood tests,” admitted Dr. Lindell. “I suppose if there are any discrepancies, it could be explained as lab error or problems with collection.” She made a note on Karolina's chart, then she looked up. “How about the anatomy?” she asked.

 

“Oh, it's great,” Nico said quickly, prompting Karolina to blush furiously.

 

“I don't think she meant anatomy in _that_ way, Nico,” Karolina said, face scalding.

 

“Oh,” replied Nico, grinning. “Oops.”

 

“God,” Karolina groaned, covering her red face with her left hand.

 

“Uh, I think she knows we have sex, Kar. I _did_ get you pregnant, after all.”

 

When Karolina's upper body started convulsing silently, Nico was briefly unsure if her girlfriend was crying or laughing, until Karolina started to laugh deeply.

 

When the doctor cleared her throat softly, Karolina moved her hand to look at the obstetrician; Nico likewise looked up, and even through her makeup, there was a definite flush to her face as well.

 

“So,” Alison said calmly, her professional demeanor once more in place as she smiled politely. “We have an ultrasound here in our office. Would the two of you like to see how old your baby is?”

 

—O—

 

Leslie Ellerh Dean checked her phone once more. Her daughter was two minutes late.

 

It had been a difficult last six weeks, and Leslie often found herself wondering if she had done the right thing by offering Karolina more information about her biological father. The two of them had been working on rebuilding their relationship after Karolina and her friends had rescued Leslie from Crater, the Gibborim's high-security facility for troublesome members, but since Leslie had sent Karolina that written letter (avoiding any electronic means of communications with her daughter, at Karolina's insistence), there hadn't been a single word of reply.

 

Until two days ago, when Leslie had received a postcard from the La Brea Tar Pits, with the name and address of a small outdoor restaurant in Encino and a date and time, in Karolina's handwriting.

 

That place was here, and that time was now. Leslie checked her watch again. Well, it had been three minutes ago.

 

“Sorry we're late,” spoke a familiar voice from behind her.

 

Leslie smiled, and it was an honest smile as she stood and turned. She had participated in numerous deeds that could reasonably be called evil over the years, but she did genuinely love her daughter. “I'm so glad you're here,” Leslie said, but her words stopped short as her eyes landed squarely on the dark eyes, dark makeup, dark hair, dark clothes of Nico Minoru.

 

“Hi, Leslie,” Nico said, with a jaunty wave and casual tone that Leslie suspected had both been chosen specifically to irritate her. It was very effective.

 

“Hi, Mom,” Karolina said, standing behind the Minoru girl, her arm very obviously wrapped around the other girl's waist.

 

“Karolina,” Leslie said calmly, taking her seat and tapping out a quick message on her phone before placing it face down on the small table. “And Nico. Glad you could join us for lunch.”

 

“It's been a good day so far,” spoke the jet-haired girl as she pulled out a chair for Karolina, then one for herself.

 

“Mom?” asked Karolina, frozen in the process of sitting down, her eyes fixed on her mother's abdomen.

 

“Your brother was born two weeks ago,” Leslie said calmly. “You should come see him soon.”

 

“Is there...”

 

“He seems perfectly fine,” Leslie reassured her daughter. “I have him wearing your old infant bracelet, though. Just in case.”

 

Karolina turned to look at Nico, and Nico could see the conflict and anger on her girlfriend's face.

 

 _We're not raising our daughter to be ashamed of who she is._ That was something she and Karolina had already discussed.

 

“You really should come see him, Karolina,” said Leslie, her voice calm, that omnipresent smile firmly on her face once more. “He looks so much like you did.”

 

“I'm... not ready to go back to the church, Mom.” Without looking, Karolina's right hand drifted toward Nico; immediately she felt fingers slide between hers, clasping her hand in a show of support.

 

“Pretty sure we've both had enough of the Gibborim to do us for a while,” Nico said firmly. “Not the best experiences there. And what happened to shutting down the church because it was 'all a bunch of bullshit,' huh?”

 

Leslie took a sip of her lemon water. “Meeting my mother made me see that while the church was founded on a lie, it's still capable of doing good. Thousands of congregants use the teachings of Gibborim to find meaning, to seek help, to cast aside self-destructive behaviors and learn to embrace the better parts of themselves.”

 

Now the look that Karolina flashed Nico was even more nervous than before.

 

“Karolina,” Leslie said, reaching across the table to lightly touch her daughter's left hand. “I still remember the lies and drugs that the church was founded on, I promise you. I still remember you and me, thrown into plywood boxes that got so hot that we passed out. But of all the ridiculous things Frank said trying to justify his power grab, he was right on one thing: the church is a central part of many people's lives, and if I take that away from them, am I _helping_ them or _hurting_ them?

 

“I'm going to make the church what it should have been in the beginning—a resource for those who need a light to guide them out of the darkness that has swallowed them. We're going to continue our charities, our contributions to the community, and this time there'll be no ulterior motives.”

 

“No human sacrifice, you mean,” Karolina said angrily. “How NICE of you.”

 

A squeeze of her right hand broke Karolina's furious gaze from her mother.

 

“Kar,” Nico said softly. “We're not here to debate the Gibborim. And you don't need to get so pissed off. Please.”

 

Leslie watched the interaction between her daughter and Tina's daughter with interest. Was Nico Minoru actually being _kind?_

 

Well, when Leslie had nowhere to go, it _had_ been Nico who actually spoke up for her, and the others had gone along with Nico's decision to shelter Leslie and her unborn child. That had been a surprise as well. Then, after Leslie had heard about Karolina's little _thing_ with Nico, it seemed to make more sense. Of course Nico would feign being nice to Karolina's mother; it would give her more leverage to use over the kind but gullible Karolina.

 

But something about this gesture, about this soft conversation occurring between her daughter and Tina's daughter, seemed... genuine.

 

And that made Leslie wonder if she had possibly made a significant mistake.

 

As she watched, Nico and Karolina whispered back and forth, then finally stopping, smiling at each other. Then, they slowly leaned in, pressing their lips together and kissing softly. It was Karolina who reached up to pull Nico's head closer, holding them together for a few more seconds of contact between them. There was no sign of Nico trying to control the situation, of trying to dictate how long they touched or when their lips parted. Nico seemed content to allow Karolina to set those terms.

 

Damn. Maybe she _had_ been wrong.

 

The grin that Karolina flashed Nico was honest in its intensity. How long had it been since Leslie had seen her daughter so obviously happy? And...

 

Nico Minoru actually _smiled_ back at Karolina, and there was an openness, an ease in that expression that Leslie couldn't ever remember seeing on the moody girl's face.

 

Leslie Ellerh Dean certainly had her faults. She had never hidden from them. She had also made mistakes, many of them. And just a few minutes ago, she had added to that tally of mistakes.

 

She flipped her phone over. Maybe she could send another message, stop what she had—

 

“Mom.”

 

She looked up, jerking her hand back from her phone, once again setting her practiced smile in place. Karolina and Nico were both looking across the small table from her, sunlight shining on both of them. They were holding hands, black fingernails interlaced with powder blue where they rested on the cafe table, and the two girls looked like they were barely holding back some happy surprise, both smiling, glancing at each other, giggling— _giggling_ , Tina's daughter, _giggling_ —while still possessing a shyness to their actions.

 

“Do you two have some sort of news to tell me?” Leslie asked, and then it hit her. _GOD, they're getting married. I'm not ready for this. They're only eighteen; wait,_ is _Nico eighteen yet? Karolina just had her birthday, when was Nico's?_

 

“Mom,” Karolina said, face starting to flush with embarrassed delight. “Nico and I...” Karolina turned to look at Nico.

 

“I'll tell her if you want, Kar, but she's your mother,” Nico said soothingly. “You deserve to tell her.”

 

Karolina nodded. She turned back to Leslie, still obviously excited, judging from the smile on her face. “I'm seven weeks pregnant, Mom. With Nico's baby.”

 

The only noise Leslie could hear was the intense ringing in her ears. She tried to speak, but she didn't know if any words came out or not. Karolina looked concerned; so did Nico, even. She could see their mouths moving, but she couldn't hear anything they were trying to say.

 

“I think we broke her, Nico,” Karolina mumbled. She got to her feet and moved around to her mother's side, checking her pulse.

 

Nico saw Leslie's glass of lemon water. She dipped her fingertips in the water, then flicked them at Leslie's face. The redhead flinched reflexively at the cold water splattering her; Nico dipped her fingers again, this time pressing them to Leslie's forehead.

 

“Did you just flick water in my mom's face?” Karolina asked, a bit amazed.

 

“Yeah, always wanted to do that,” Nico replied quietly.

 

Karolina tried not to laugh as she patted her mom's face. “Mom? Mom!” she said sharply. When Leslie blinked and wiped at the water on her face, Karolina smiled with relief. “Mom,” she said, pressing her hand to Leslie's freckled cheek. “You had us worried.”

 

“Karolina...” Leslie said, her lips slightly numb and tingling. Was she having a stroke? That was possible at her age, right?

 

Karolina took her mother's hand with her left hand and grabbed Nico's hand with her right. “This is a good thing, Mom,” she said. “Nico and I are _happy_.”

 

Nico slid her chair forward, making a brief scraping noise as the metal feet slid across the concrete. “We, uh, brought ultrasound pictures. Although she's just kind of a little glob at this point.” Nico slid a small stack of pictures in front of Leslie. “The doctor says that when we go back in a month, we should be able to make out some organs and limbs.”

 

“But _Mom_ ,” Karolina said excitedly. “We got to hear her little _heartbeat!”_

 

Leslie's hand hovered over the small printed images, hesitant to touch them. She looked back up at her daughter and then at Nico. “You two wanted this?”

 

“We weren't expecting it so soon, but yes,” Karolina said, her smile fading into a determined set of her mouth. “I love Nico, Mom.”

 

“But becoming a _teen mom_ , Karolina?” asked Leslie, her voice tight. “Is that _really_ what you want?”

 

“I didn't want to have villains and cult leaders as my parents, but I got that, didn't I?!” the blonde shot back, her volume rising. “I didn't want to be a runaway, a high school dropout, but I got that, _didn't I?!”_

 

“Karolina—”

With obvious effort, Karolina lowered her voice, but it was still strained with anger. “I didn't ask to be kidnapped and tortured, but hey, that happened. I didn't ask to be gay, but I am. I didn't ask to be an alien, but I AM.”

 

She held Leslie's gaze, and now those blue eyes that so much of the time sparkled with happiness and kindness were cold and cutting. “I had to find out just who I was and what I wanted, and I _have_. Have bad things happened along the way? Yeah, they have. Have good things happened along the way?” She paused, turned to Nico, and now her smile returned while she looked at the dark-haired woman who held her heart. “I love you,” she whispered to Nico.

 

“I love you, too,” Nico replied, with such softness and warmth in her voice that Karolina shivered.

 

When she turned to face her mother again, the smile had vanished. “Absolutely good things have happened too. We didn't always plan them or expect them, but we've taken what we've been handed and made the best we could out of it. That's what Nico and I are going to do with this baby.”

 

“You can have the house. I'm mostly staying at the main—”

 

“We already have a house,” replied Karolina. “Our house. With our family.”

 

“Karolina,” Leslie replied, open-mouthed. “You can't be serious. That place—”

 

“The Hostel.”

 

“—The Hostel is shelter, yes, but it's nearly a century old! It's got patched-together electricity, it's falling down in places, it's been damaged, it's dirty and neglected!”

 

Karolina leaned forward. “Mom. You just described _us_. Nico and me, Gert and Chase, Alex, Molly, Old Lace. We're beaten-up, we're damaged, we're patched together. But what we have is _ours_. We found it, we fixed it, we keep it working, and there are no strings attached to it.”

 

“How can you want to raise a child there?!”

 

“Because it's our home,” Nico calmly said, meeting Leslie's astonished look with a neutral face.

 

“Mom,” said Karolina, and when Leslie looked back at her daughter, she could see that Karolina's anger was beginning to boil away and be replaced by hurt. “Nico and I are _happy_. She LOVES ME. She accepts me. _All_ of our family loves us and accepts us.”

 

_I want you to accept us too. I want you to accept ME._

 

Leslie could hear the unspoken words that her daughter couldn't or wouldn't say. And no matter what damning things she had been a part of over the years, she loved Karolina.

 

Blinking at unshed tears, Leslie reached both her arms across the small table, taking Nico's right hand with her left and Karolina's left hand with her right. “I accept you, Karolina, and I accept you, Nico. And while the two of you are young, you've had to grow up fast.”

 

“No shit,” Nico said softly, making Karolina laugh.

 

“And a baby is going to make you both grow up even more, even faster,” Leslie continued.

 

Karolina and Nico both nodded. “We know,” Karolina said. “It's going to be the hardest thing we've ever done, raising a child.”

 

“Yes. It is.” Leslie looked back and forth at the two of them. So young, SO young, but they had fire, and determination, and love. It was obvious that they had love. And if her daughter could find the love and light in Tina Minoru's daughter, then maybe Karolina really _was_ a messiah.

 

Oh. Tina.

 

“Karolina, Nico, I need to—”

 

“Mom,” Karolina said, interrupting her mother. “I want to know more about who I am. About... _what_ I am.”

 

Leslie shifted her attention, trying to hang onto her thought process.

 

“I want to know what to expect about this baby. What did Jonah tell you about me?”

 

“Jonah?” Leslie asked, confused.

 

Karolina nodded. “You said you had some information he had left for me.”

 

Leslie felt revulsion crawl up the back of her throat. Images of Jonah talking to Karolina, of him smiling at Karolina, insinuating himself into her thoughts, into her mind.

 

“If any of Jonah is still out there,” Leslie managed to say, “you need to stay away from him, Karolina. Especially now.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Please, Karolina, just believe me! You _cannot_ trust him. He is, is...” She shook her head, and the movements were oddly nervous. “He's despicable. He's—”

 

Karolina looked over to Nico, trying to figure out why her mom was acting so strange, but Nico had that expression of keen interest on her face, the look that meant she was turning pieces of a puzzle over in her head, trying to fit them together.

 

“I know, Mom,” replied Karolina. “He's an asshole. But I need to know all I can about Majesdanian physiology, so Nico and I can be as prepared as we possibly can for this baby.”

 

Leslie nodded. She seemed to be fighting back tears again, which Nico noted as well.

 

“Janet Stein would be your best option, then,” Leslie managed to say, her voice oddly unsteady. “That was why I contacted you. She decrypted J— _his_ archives some months ago. She's decided that you should have access to at least part of it, to learn more about yourself and the Majesdanians... without having to deal with that lying, manipulative bastard, or his equally corrupt family.”

 

“That sounds perfect!” Karolina said happily.

 

“That means we have to deal with PRIDE,” Nico said, displeased.

 

“No,” said Karolina. She smiled at Nico. “That means we have to deal with Chase's mom, not PRIDE.”

 

“And how's that better?”

 

“Because Chase's mom has helped us before!”

 

“And Chase's mom also helped sacrifice over a dozen teenagers before, too.”

 

“But it's better than dealing with Alex's parents!”

 

“Or mine,” Nico said, considering. She looked over at Leslie, who still seemed to be trying to pull herself back together emotionally. “Leslie,” she said, clearly and firmly, and the older redhead stopped fidgeting and looked at Nico. “What aren't you telling us about Jonah?”

 

Leslie blinked a few times, and her eyes were starting to tear up even more than before. She turned back to Karolina. “I always kept him away from you, growing up. _Always_. I made sure you were never around him, not even for a moment.”

 

Nico felt her heart start to fall into her gut.

 

“When I saw him talking to you, Karolina, trying to befriend you, to— I couldn't stand aside. Even if it brought everything down, I _could not let him get to you,_ but he still—”

 

Nico leaned forward, covering Leslie's hand with her free right hand. “He isn't going to get to Karolina ever again. I won't let him.” She didn't shy away from the nervous look in Leslie's eyes. “And we won't let him hurt you again, either.”

 

There was a flicker of hope in Leslie Dean's eyes, exposed for a few painful seconds. Then it was carefully tucked away behind eyes that were too much like Karolina's. The redhead dipped her napkin in her water, then used it to dab at her eyes, taking a moment to recompose herself, and the familiar quality of the action hit Nico with the force of a punch.

 

_Some of us hide behind makeup, others behind smiles._

 

Nico looked at Karolina, wished she could take away all the shitty things that had ever happened to her girlfriend. But she couldn't, and those shitty things made Karolina the woman she was today, just like they had made Nico the woman _she_ was today.

 

“Do you love her?”

 

Nico and Karolina both looked across the table to see Leslie, her expression schooled back into the appearance of simple curiosity.

 

“Do you love her, Karolina?” Leslie repeated.

 

Karolina looked at Nico. She smiled, that smile that somehow managed to be both shy and proud at once, and Nico's whole body felt warm and energized in the face of that smile. “With all my heart,” the blonde said easily.

 

“And she makes you happy?”

 

Now Karolina turned to look at her mother, and her expression seemed to balance between surprise and irritation. “She makes me happier than I've ever been,” Karolina answered honestly.

 

This time when Leslie smiled, it looked genuine, not practiced or soulless. “I'm glad.”

 

A sudden moment of burning pain in Nico's left chest made her wince suddenly.

 

“Nico?” Karolina asked, turning to see her girlfriend holding her chest.

 

“Ow,” Nico said, unsure what had just happened. “That was weird.”

 

“How adorable,” said a condescending voice, one that made Nico go cold and Karolina heat up with anger.

 

The scraping of a metal chair across the concrete made Nico and Karolina both look up to see Tina Minoru sitting down at the table, equidistant between Nico and Leslie and mostly across the table from Karolina.

 

“So has my daughter not managed to drive you away yet, Karolina?” Tina asked smugly. “You must be just as passive as I've heard.” She turned to look at Leslie. “Thank you for the notice, Leslie. Surprisingly considerate of you.”

 

“Pleasant as ever, Tina,” sighed the redhead.

 

“You told her we were here?!” Karolina practically shouted as she jumped to her feet.

 

Leslie held her hands up in a placating manner. “Karolina, Nico, she said she had important information that you both needed to know. That was the only—”

 

“DAMMIT, Mom! How could you do this?! We _protected_ you, we gave you and your baby a place to stay! I, I RESCUED you! And you _still_ pull some shit like this?!”

 

Nico couldn't recall the last time she had seen Karolina so livid. “Kar, hon, we should just leave,” Nico said, unsure if she needed to stand up or duck under the table.

 

“Yes, run away, Nico,” Tina said. “Pretend like everything is fine and you're oh-so-tough, and nothing can hurt you. Lying is what you do so well anyway.”

 

Karolina's head whipped to the side. Thanks to Jonah, she hadn't been there to help take care of Nico after the run-in with her parents at PRIDE Central, but she had seen pictures of the plentiful bruises, the cuts and scrapes, the swollen face, the bloodied lips, the black eye that her girlfriend had suffered at the hands of her parents, and Karolina's righteous fury at Tina and Robert Minoru hadn't faded the slightest over the last seven months. “Who the hell _are_ you?!” she snapped at Tina. “Do you even _know_ your daughter?”

 

“I know her much better than you do, you spoiled brat,” Tina shot back, scooting to the edge of her seat. “I know the only thing she'll bring you is pain, and hurt feelings, and denial. It might not be now, but it _will_ happen. If that pretty blonde hair hides even a bit of a brain, you should fly as far away from Nico and that Staff as possible.”

 

“Why you don't go _fuck off?!”_ Karolina spat, her eyes boring holes through Tina's face. “Nobody fucking asked you!”

 

Nico's eyes were comically wide as she watched her kind, sweet girlfriend, the former smiling face and current messiah of the Church of Gibborim, shift into a holy avenger, neck taut, upper body stiff, arms extended down and slightly behind her as she leaned forward, spitting profanities like darts as she screamed at Nico's mother.

 

Tina's face shifted to a decent facsimile of a concerned expression. “I'm just trying to save you from heartbreak and loss, Karolina. That's all that awaits Nico, and you as well if you insist on continuing this foolish little tryst between the two of you.”

 

“A little _tryst_?” Karolina said, laughing coldly. “Are you that fucking stupid, Tina? You think Nico and I are just playing house or some shit like that?!”

 

“Of course that's what you're doing. And one day you'll both grow up, realize how absurd you're acting and go your separate—”

 

“I'M CARRYING HER FUCKING _CHILD_ , TINA!!”

 

Other than the crash of something glass on the concrete a few tables away, the entire patio section of the restaurant went utterly silent.

 

Finally, Tina Minoru looked completely caught off-guard. “What... did you say?”

 

Karolina moved to stand behind Nico, protectively putting her hands on Nico's shoulders. “I said, I'm pregnant. With Nico's baby. Don't expect us to bring her over to visit.”

 

Tina blinked a few times, then she looked at Nico, and for the first time in Nico's life, she saw what might have been fear in her mother's eyes. “The Staff?” Tina asked in a shaky voice.

 

Nico nodded. “It... wasn't exactly planned, but we're happy about it.”

 

“You're children.”

 

“We're _teenagers_ ,” Karolina said hotly.

 

Tina fixed Karolina with a glare. “And you think that's an improvement?”

 

“I think your daughter is a much better person than you are,” Karolina said firmly. “And she's going to be a hell of a lot better as a mother than you were.”

 

“She carries a darkness within her!” Tina said.

 

“Yeah,” Karolina said defiantly. “So?”

 

Tina blinked.

 

Karolina stepped around Nico, moving closer to Tina. “I know Nico has a darkness in her,” the blonde said proudly. “But there's a difference between darkness and evil.”

 

Karolina looked back at Nico, who looked surprisingly hesitant until Karolina reached out toward Nico.

 

(If Karolina reached out to her, then Nico was damn sure going to take her hand.)

 

Nico stood, taking Karolina's hand in her own and stepping forward, pressing her body against Karolina's, fitting neatly against her girlfriend.

 

“Nico told me about what happened when you and Robert nearly killed her,” Karolina said, anger saturating her voice.

 

“She wasn't even close to dying,” Tina huffed. “She needed to be taken down a few notches.”

 

“You scrambled her mind and then _beat_ her, Tina! It was an unfair fight, and you and Robert beat the shit out of her, so FUCK YOU as a mother!”

 

“And then Nico used the Staff and nearly killed her father,” Tina said, smoothly standing and taking a step toward Karolina.

 

“And that's because she's dark? Is that what you're saying?” Karolina asked, her entire body vibrating with rage.

 

“Absolutely.” Tina crossed her arms confidently. “She can't fight the darkness. It's part of her, and she doesn't have the self-control to keep it contained. _It will swallow her.”_

 

Karolina turned to look at Nico, who looked— _God_ , she looked like she was about to cry. Tina was seriously fucking with her mind, and that pissed Karolina off even more.

 

“Nico,” Karolina said, as softly as she could. She took the rage toward Tina that was boiling inside her and mentally moved it away, just for a few minutes, because Nico needed her. “Nico, sweetie, look at me. Please.” When Nico looked up at her, Karolina smiled as brightly as she could. “Sweetheart,” she said gently. “Just focus at me, okay? Nobody else, hon. Just me.”

 

When Nico focused on the blonde's eyes, her small body shivering as she did so, Karolina was fighting tears of her own. “Don't listen to your mom, Nico. She couldn't beat the Staff. She couldn't beat her own darkness. But YOU CAN.”

 

Karolina dropped her knees in front of Nico, making Nico look down at her instead of looking up. “Nico, you are the strongest person I have _ever_ known. When I— When I had days where I... didn't want to go on, Nico, I thought of you. When we were running and hiding and things seemed impossible, I thought of you and how you wouldn't quit. When Chase had left us and we were all running for our lives, you were the only one of us who didn't run away. You _challenged_ them. You went directly to their base, you took on your mom and your dad—”

 

“And I got my ass kicked,” Nico whispered.

 

“—And you got your ass kicked,” Karolina added with a loving smile, “but you _still beat them.”_

 

“And, again, nearly killed your father in the process,” said Tina. “Excellent job, Nico. That's the power the Staff brings you.”

 

“Tina,” Karolina said, turning her head to look at the other woman. “Don't make me blast you across the street in front of all these people. Because I fucking WILL DO IT _,_ bitch.”

 

When the older Minoru didn't reply, Karolina returned her attention to Nico.

 

“Nico,” she said, taking her girlfriend's hands in her own, “You are the strongest, bravest, most stubborn person I've ever known.”

 

Nico laughed through her tears as she looked down. She felt her heart swell at Karolina's love and openness, and rather than speak and ruin her girlfriend's moment, she bent her head down and placed a kiss on Karolina's forehead.

 

The press of Nico's lips on her skin was like electric fire to Karolina, and the blonde shivered out of both delight and wonder at just how much love she felt for this woman. “Do you know what I believe in, Nico? I believe in _you_. I believe in US. And if you ever have doubts about yourself, then I promise you that I'll believe enough for both of us, to get you through those moments, because I am the light to your darkness, Nico Minoru, and I will ALWAYS come back to you.”

 

Nico leaned her head more forward, pressing her forehead to Karolina's as she quietly cried, her heart so full of emotion that it felt like it might burst. Her tears ran down onto Karolina's face, taking traces of black and dark red eyeshadow and mascara with them, leaving tiny little dark trails that staked their claim on the blonde's skin. “I love you with all I am,” she whispered softly, feeling Karolina's body tremble as they embraced. “The good, the bad, the fucked-up, the angry, all of it. I trust—” She took in a deep breath, steadying herself and ignoring the tears that continued to fall onto on her girlfriend's face. “I trust you, Kar. I trust you with my heart. I trust you with _me_.”

 

Nico stepped back and pulled slightly on Karolina's hands, signaling for the taller girl to stand. When she did so, Nico found herself in the familiar position of looking up at the woman she loved, and it felt so _right_ that she didn't have words to conceptualize how she felt. “You're the best person I've ever known, Kar,” Nico said, meaning every word.

 

Karolina's smile was blinding in its joy; her appearance was more than a bit funny, with dark, wandering lines and specks of black meandering down her cheeks and across her jaw, but somehow the imperfections made the blonde's expression even more beautiful. “Well, we'll just have to agree to disagree on that subject, Miss Minoru, because _my_ vote would go to someone else.”

 

Nico reached up to wipe the dark lines from Karolina's face, only for Karolina to intercept her hand, gently wrapping her fingers around Nico's.

 

“Leave it,” Karolina whispered, still smiling. “I like people knowing I'm yours. That's why I love your lipstick.”

 

Nico softly kissed her girlfriend, making sure to gently smudge the color against Karolina's lips. “Let's go home. We can grab some food to go on the way.”

 

“Sounds good to me.”

 

Without another word to either of their mothers, Karolina turned, lightly pulling Nico into motion as she walked past Tina, the two of them walking away from the patio without looking back.

 

Tina and Leslie both watched the blonde and raven-haired girl walk away until they had crossed the nearest street. Tina then silently turned and walked back to the table, moving her seat (quietly this time) and nearly falling into it.

 

After an uncomfortable minute of strained silence, Tina finally spoke. “I imagine you found this quite amusing.”

 

Leslie didn't hide her smile. “Oh, absolutely. _Much_ better than I was expecting.”

 

“I wonder how your little followers will react.”

 

“Well, they already think Karolina's the messiah, so I don't think a divine pregnancy between Karolina and her partner will be too hard a sell for them.”

 

Now Tina turned to look at the redhead. Leslie was still beautiful, even after all these years. “You know that when she decides to take your church from you, they'll follow her without hesitation.”

 

Leslie thanked the server, who had returned with another lemon water now that the drama seemed to be over. She took a slow, easy drink of her water before replying, because she knew it would annoy Tina. “I'm counting on it,” she finally said. “The odds are already stacked against our daughters. I want them to have every chance to succeed.”

 

“Nico's darkness—the _Staff's_ darkness—will destroy them both.”

 

Leslie smiled, and the pain that Tina could see in that smile, pain that she had helped to put there years ago, sent a knife through Tina's emotional defenses.

 

“I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on that point, Miss Minoru,” the redhead said softly, choosing her words very deliberately. The annoyed look on the other woman's face was worth it.

 

“Still the naive optimist,” Tina said bitterly.

 

“Still the cold, heartless pessimist,” Leslie countered.

 

“It's no wonder we didn't work.”

 

“That, at least, we can agree on.”

 

They sat in silence for a few minutes, broken only by Tina ordering a mimosa.

 

After half of her drink was gone, Tina looked at Leslie again. “Pregnancy only made you more beautiful,” she spoke quietly. “You were always lucky that way.”

 

Leslie looked at Tina, surprised by the admission on the other woman's part.

 

“I don't want my last daughter to die,” Tina sighed, and she sounded tired, so tired as she spoke. “But I'm afraid she won't understand the Staff until it's too late.”

 

“Can't you tell her?”

 

“No. It doesn't work that way. And when I'm around the Staff, I can still feel it, like a phantom limb. But it's Nico's now. I offered it to her, and she claimed it.”

 

For the first time in over fifteen years, Leslie saw a tear escape from Tina Minoru's eyes.

 

“I damned my last daughter,” whispered Tina. “After I failed my first. Amy was too young to take the Staff. Nico was too young, too.”

 

Leslie found enough courage to reach to the side and gently cover Tina's wrist with her hand. “You gave her the Staff because you didn't want Jonah to kill the rest of our children, or to ruin their lives like he did ours.”

 

Tina turned to look directly at the woman she had once loved. “Did I do the right thing, Leslie?”

 

“Oh, Tina,” Leslie spoke softly. “I don't think we can talk about right and wrong. Not after all we've done.”

 

“No. Probably not.”

 

“All we can do now is have faith in our children, to not make the mistakes we made. To be better than we were.”

 

“They're certainly more stubborn than we were,” said Tina, and that familiar sharp edge was back in her words.

 

Leslie withdrew her hand from Tina's wrist. “We agree twice in one day. Amazing.”

 

As Tina glanced toward Leslie, the hint of a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “You're going to be a grandmother.”

 

“ _You're_ going to be a grandmother!” Leslie shot back, nearly laughing.

 

Tina shook her head. She picked up her glass and finished the other half of her drink in one gulp. “What _has_ become of us, Leslie?” she asked, not entirely expecting an answer.

 

Leslie stared at the shifting of the ice cubes in her own drink for a long time. “Whatever it is,” she finally said, “we did it to ourselves.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have give some credit where it's deserved for that little revelation about Tina and Leslie. Not too long ago on Instagram, Brittany Ishibashi was enthusiastically supporting Nico and Karolina being named Deanoru when she made the playful comment that the two of them were actually Deanoru 2.0, and accompanying that little comment was a selfie of her with Annie Wersching, who plays Leslie Dean. Whether she meant it as a joke or whether she's working with a headcanon for her character's backstory, I thought a messy history between Tina and Leslie was a brilliant idea, and it would certainly explain why Tina and Leslie don't seem to be very supportive of their daughters' relationship. 
> 
> Next chapter, it's time to slightly expand the Huluverse. Thank you for reading!


	4. Fear to Tread

_Somewhere after midnight_

_In my wildest fantasy_

_Somewhere just beyond my reach_

_There's someone reaching back for me_

_Racing on the thunder and rising with the heat_

_It's gonna take a superman to sweep me off my feet_

 

 

\--Bonnie Tyler, “Holding out for a Hero”

 

 

—O—

—O—

 

 

As far as Nico Minoru was concerned, there was nothing finer in life than waking up with her arms full of beautiful California blonde, and one beautiful California blonde in particular.

 

The sun was already well up as Nico drifted from sleep into wakefulness. She felt warm, so warm, with Karolina in her arms (it was a good thing their mattress was fairly soft from being worn-out, or at least one of her arms would have fallen off from Karolina lying on one of them most nights), pressed against her body, one of the blonde girl's feet worming its way between Nico's ankles, her leg sliding between Nico's.

 

There was no feeling on Earth that could compare to this. Nico was sure of that.

 

She slowly opened her eyes, taking her time and trying not to yawn. Karolina had obviously rolled over during the night so that she was facing Nico, meaning that her girlfriend's sleeping face was directly in front of hers, eyes closed, mouth showing a soft, content smile.

 

Nico put that smile there. Realizing that, realizing how happy Karolina was with _her_ , made her incredibly happy and more than a bit proud.

 

As Nico watched, the blonde's eyes slowly blinked open, just a crack at first, then, hesitantly, fluttered open a bit wider. As soon as the blue irises peeked out from behind bare eyelids, making contact with Nico's dark brown eyes staring back at her, a sleepy smile spread even wider across Karolina's face.

 

“Mmmm, morning, gorgeous,” Karolina mumbled, moving her right arm from where it had been between their torsos to wrap it across Nico's ribs. “This is the _best_ way to wake up.”

 

“Absolutely,” replied Nico, pressing her lips softly to Karolina's before a sudden banging at their bedroom door made both women jump.

 

“Karolina! Nico!” Molly shouted from the other side of the curtained door, followed by more rapid knocking.

 

“It's too early...” Karolina moaned, rolled toward Nico and buried her face in the pillow next to her girlfriend's face.

 

“Are you two fucking?! I need to tell you something!”

 

Karolina moaned something, but her face was so deep in the pillow that Nico couldn't make it out.

 

“We're not fucking, Mol! Holy shit!” Nico yelled back.

 

“Well, if you're not fucking, I'm coming in!”

 

“What the hell!” Nico swore, but she was sure she heard Karolina giggle softly as the blonde rolled bodily toward Nico, restoring their usual sleeping position of Nico holding the blonde from behind.

 

Sure enough, the latch to their door rattled as Molly let herself in, one hand over her eyes. “Tell me when I can look!” Molly said, excitedly.

 

“You can look,” Nico said.

 

Molly dropped her hand to see Karolina and Nico both flipping her off, the sheet and thin blanket pulled up to cover them from the chest down.

 

“What's that for?!”

 

“For being a little shit,” said Nico.

 

“But we still love you!” added Karolina.

 

“Can you feel the baby kick yet?!” Molly said suddenly, jumping onto the large bed, knees first.

 

Nico flopped backward, pulling a pillow over her face. Karolina turned to look at her girlfriend, smiled happily, then turned back to Molly.

 

“It's still too early to feel her kicking, Mol,” the blonde said. “I'm just thirteen weeks.”

 

Karolina pushed the sheet and blanket down, revealing a severely cutoff white t-shirt with a unicorn on it, her bare abdomen and the top of a pair of light gray sleep shorts. Karolina still looked healthy and fit, but there was definitely a slight bump visible in her lower abdomen now.

 

Molly's eyes went wide as she looked at Karolina's bare stomach. “Oh my GOD! You can see you're pregnant now!!” she shrieked, right before lunging forward and pressing the palm of her hand to Karolina's belly, right over the umbilicus.

 

Feeling the bed shift behind her, Karolina looked over her shoulder. Nico had sat back up, her dark hair disheveled and more than a bit poofy. She was looking directly at Molly feeling Karolina's abdomen, and there was a sleepy, happy smile on Nico's face that made Karolina feel like she was full of helium.

 

“Morning, Mommy,” Karolina said, smiling at her lover as she scooted back slightly, pulling away from Molly. “Want to say hi to our little girl?”

 

Nico's soft smile instantly faded into a nonplussed look. “Really?”

 

“Oh, don't act like you wouldn't be talking to her right now if Molly wasn't here watching. You don't fool me, Miss Minoru.”

 

Nico started to roll her eyes, then caught herself. “Okay, you're right,” she said.

 

Karolina's smile returned, wider than before. “Yay,” she said, pleased with herself. Now she lay back across the bed, grabbing her pillow and Nico's before piling them up for her shoulders and head as she stretched out. She smiled and lay back, the _very_ cut-off shirt riding up with the change in position. Karolina smiled and looked at the ceiling as she lifted her arms, putting her hands behind her head. “Okay,” she said happily. “You can talk to her now, Mommy.”

 

Both Nico's and Molly's eyes went wide at once.

 

“Uh, Kar.”

 

“Uh huh?”

 

“I know your boobs are great, but I'm not sure Mol was ready to see them.”

 

“Shit!” Karolina swore, moving her hands and tugging the bottom of her shirt down some. “Sorry, Mol. They're starting to get a bit bigger. Not quite used to them like this.”

 

“And that shirt is realllly short,” Molly added, still in mild shock at being flashed by Karolina.

 

“Yeah, well, Nico likes it that way,” replied the blonde, smiling up at her lover as Nico flung away the sheet and crawled across the bed, revealing her Sabrina the Teenage Witch nightshirt. “Her hands tend to wander at night.”

 

“Can you blame them?” asked the black-haired woman, grinning as she lay down on her crossed arms beside Karolina's abdomen. She leaned her head over Karolina's lower abdomen, pressing her lips to the bare skin below the blonde's belly button. “HI, baby girl,” she said softly, trying not to feel self-conscious with Molly watching. “This is your other mommy, just telling you that I love you, too. You take your time and get all strong and healthy, okay? We'll be right here waiting when you're ready to come out. Love you.”

 

Karolina ran the fingers of her left head through Nico's tousled hair as Nico spoke to their child. She smiled, secretly surprised and openly pleased that Nico was comfortable enough to exhibit this degree of affection toward her and their baby in front of others. When Nico finished, ending by pressing a kiss to Karolina's skin, Karolina withdrew her hand from her girlfriend's hair and pressed the tips of her fingers against Nico's cheek.

 

“That was adorable,” Molly said, her voice a reverent whisper.

 

Nico looked up at the youngest Runaway. “Don't you tell anybody, Molly. I mean it.”

 

“Oh, nobody would believe me if I did,” Molly replied.

 

“So what's the big news?” asked Karolina. “I mean, you were ready to kick our door down. What's going on?”

 

“Two things!” Molly said, her wide smile back in full force. “First, we're all going to a _lacrosse tournament!_ Chase got asked to play!”

 

“Lacrosse?” Karolina asked, a bit confused.

 

Nico groaned and flopped back down beside Karolina, now with both of them lying mostly sideways on their bed. “I am not getting out of bed with this woman to go watch _organized sports_. Fuck no.”

 

“AND Chase is bringing the new van!” Molly added, jumping once with excitement. “We can all ride in it! Even Old Lace!”

 

“Oh, that'll be a fabulous idea. Let's take a carnivorous dinosaur to a buffet of screaming humans.”

 

Karolina laid down next to Nico. “Nico,” she said softly. “Sweetheart. I think it'd be good for Chase and Gert for us to go support him.”

 

Nico turned her head to look Karolina in the eyes, and it was obvious that the blonde was facing a steep challenge here.

 

“He's really worked hard, Nico. You can't argue that.”

 

“No, I can't. But he also betrayed us.”

 

“And he nearly died for his mistake.”

 

“Just like you...” Nico's eyes briefly closed as she briefly, unwillingly contemplated what might have been. “Nearly died.”

 

“But that wasn't Chase's fault. That was all Jonah. Chase regrets what he did, hon. And it's been over six months. I think this would be a great way for us to show our support.”

 

Nico turned her head to look up at the ceiling, then sighed dramatically. “Fine. How is us going supporting Gert, then?”

 

“Because she needs someone to listen to her bitch and moan about male egos and the worship of athletes in our society.”

 

“Point,” Nico admitted. “I can get in on some of that, too.”

 

“AND you get to show off your girlfriend,” Karolina added, cuddling up beside Nico.

 

“And we get to see the new van!” added Molly.

 

“ _Fuck_ , Molly!” Nico swore. “I thought you had left!”

 

“Nah,” the younger girl said breezily. “You two are way too cute.”

 

“Oh God,” Nico groaned, lifting her left arm to cover with her face with her left hand. “Kill me now. I am officially _cute_.”

 

Without moving her head from where it was nuzzling Nico's bare neck, Karolina surreptitiously lifted her right arm and flashed Molly a thumbs-up.

 

—O—

 

“Jesus, this is such a fucking waste of time, effort and environment,” Gert grumbled. She, Nico, Karolina and Molly were seated along the sideline of the lacrosse field as Chase's team powered to a 4-1 lead. “Bunch of boys seeing who can play with their balls the best. Big whoop.”

 

“Uh, _you've_ played with Chase's balls,” Nico said, taking a drink of her soda. She had gone a bit casual today, wearing a fine mesh see-through black shirt over a black bandeau top, matched with long black skater shorts, black crew socks and black Vans.

 

Karolina's clothes contrasted well with Nico's; she was wearing her yellow t-shirt with a white and blue star on the chest, paired with nearly-white cutoff faded denim shorts that showed a daring amount of her rear, ending with a pair of her favorite lace-up sandals.

 

Molly was wearing a baggy pale pink tank top over a white sports bra, then her own pair of cut-off denim shorts (not as scandalous in cut as Karolina's), crew socks and running shoes.

 

Gert had left her favorite jacket at the Hostel, as it was warm for Southern California today; instead, she had gone with a short-sleeved white silk blouse with a peach floral print, khaki capris and her own running shoes. (She had learned that when you don't have superpowers, being prepared to run at all times wasn't the worst idea.)

 

Gert gave Nico a look of frustration. “This is pointless!” she said, gesturing toward the players on the field. “It's a testosterone competition!” She rubbed at her temples. “Ugh. I'm getting a fucking headache from all this machismo.”

 

“Of course it's pointless,” Nico replied. “It's a _game_. It's for fun.”

 

“And lacrosse!” Gert continued, getting a few disgruntled looks from parents seated next to them. “It's such a _bourgeois_ sport! I'm sure it was invented by a group of white men that told women and minorities that they weren't allowed to play!”

 

“Actually, I think it was invented by Native Americans,” Karolina said, taking a bite of her nachos with cheese and jalapenos. “Not white men,” she added, chewing.

 

Gert's look of amazement was nearly enough to make Molly laugh, but not quite. “Where's the solidarity of sisterhood?!” she asked, mostly to her friend. “Karolina, I thought that as a strong, proud gay woman, you'd have no interest in supporting a group of sweaty men playing with their sticks and balls!”

 

“We're supporting our family,” Nico said, right before she delicately accepted the nacho and cheese Karolina held up to her mouth.

 

“Right,” added the blonde. “Did you see that Eiffel and her pack of mean girls were on the far sideline?”

 

Gert's head whipped to face front so quickly that Karolina was afraid she might sling her glasses off. “Where?! Where is that tramp?”

 

“Over there,” Karolina pointed. “She's wearing the other team's colors.”

 

“I hate that upper-middle-class ultraconservative pro-capitalism boy-stealing bitch,” Gert said with a low voice.

 

Without warning, Gert jumped to her feet. “CHASE!” she screamed, loud enough that Chase turned to look her way, mid-play. “KICK THEIR ASSES!”

 

Chase flashed Gert a thumbs up with his gloved left hand, then returned his attention to the game.

 

Satisfied, Gert sat back down in the folding chair, a smug grin on her face.

 

“Should we go check on Alex?” asked Karolina.

 

“He's a big boy,” Nico replied simply. “He's probably having more fun poking around with the computer system on the Toad— ”

 

“Frog,” Molly corrected.

 

“—than he would be out here watching men play with their sticks and balls,” Nico finished. She glanced over at Gert, who flashed her a sisterly smile.

 

Karolina turned to look at Gert. “You've been over there for at least some of the time he's been building the Frog, right?” she asked the purple-haired woman.

 

“Yeah, why?”

 

A look of concern spread across Karolina's face. “Well...” she said in a lower voice, “the Frog doesn't have anything that could go _boom_ on it, does it?”

 

“Not now,” Molly answered for Gert. When all three of the others turned to look at her, she shrugged. “What?! I asked him that first thing. I wanted to blast something when he came to pick us up!”

 

“Understandable,” Nico muttered.

 

“He said that he's not putting anything like that on it until he has the hydraulic legs working right.”

 

“Hydraulic legs?” Karolina and Nico both asked simultaneously.

 

Molly nodded, grinning again. “Yeah, its full name is the LeapFrog, but he says we can't call it that until it can actually, you know, leap.”

 

A whistle from the field was followed by an eruption of cheers around them. Gert shot to her feet, pumping her fist as she hissed, “YES!” She lifted her arms and shouted, “THAT”S MY MAN! YOU KICK ASS, CHASE!”

 

Nico looked over at Karolina, sharing a smile with her girlfriend. As she did that, she saw the woman next to Karolina heatedly talking to two children, a boy and girl who both appeared to be around eleven or twelve. She pointed over Karolina's shoulder, making the blonde turn and look.

 

“—Can't believe you'd do that!” the woman was practically shouting. “These are your father's work handcuffs! What were you doing playing with them?!”

 

Now Karolina, Nico and Molly, who had turned to watch, saw the woman clutch the middle joint of a pair of metal handcuffs that were attached to the girl's wrists, lifting the girl's hands and arms.

 

“—Just have to leave them on while you go to the bathroom,” continued the woman. “I don't have the key! It's at the house!”

 

“Mom!” moaned the girl. “I can't, ... _you know_ , with these on!”

 

“I don't know what you expect me to do about it!” snapped the woman.

 

“Excuse me,” Karolina asked politely, leaning toward the woman, with Nico and Molly peering that direction as well. “Is there anything we can do to help?”

 

The woman looked back at her preteen daughter who appeared to be nearly in tears, the embarrassed girl's face flushed. “Unless you keep a key for handcuffs with you, I doubt it,” she said dismissively to Karolina.

 

“I got it,” Molly said, walking on her knees a bit closer to the girl, who looked at her briefly, then leaned toward Molly.

 

“Uh, Molly...” Nico said, not quickly enough.

 

Molly quickly grasped the handcuff loop that was around the girl's right wrist, each hand taking one half of the loop before she pulled her hands apart. A brief squeal of protesting metal was followed by a loud snap as the girl's wrist was freed.

 

“Thank you!” the girl said rapidly, then she turned and fast-walked in the direction of the port-a-potties.

 

Molly tossed the broken arm of the handcuff onto the ground, then returned to her seat, watching the game once more.

 

The shocked woman looked at Molly, then at Nico and Karolina.

 

“She takes special vitamins,” Nico said quickly, before pointedly looking back at the match on the field. Karolina did the same.

 

—O—

 

The final score of the game was 16-11, with Chase's team winning in a strong showing.

 

The players gathered together in celebration, first shaking hands and then talking with each other on the field. Gert was the first of the women out on the field, with Molly close behind. Nico and Karolina decided to follow them at a more restrained pace.

 

This had been the last tournament game of the day, so there was no push from the officials to clear the field. As such, most of the spectators made their way onto the field, chatting amiably with others.

 

“I'm so proud of you!” Gert said, squeezing between Chase's teammates, placing her hands on Chase's face and planting a kiss on his lips. He dropped his stick and flung his gloves off, then grabbed Gert, picking her up and holding her as they kissed, to the spirited cheers of her teammates.

 

“Oh, God,” Nico said loudly, with a teasing smile on her face. “It's a heteronormative display of affection. Someone call the ACLU.”

 

A few of the players laughed, but not many. Gert's head turned to give Nico a dirty glare, then she resumed kissing her boyfriend.

 

“Oh my God,” said one of the players, a short but quick blonde named Max. Karolina had shared an American Literature class with him, while Nico had shared a Geometry class with him. “Nico, right?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“And Karoline?”

 

“Karolina,” corrected the blonde. “How are you, Max?”

 

“Well, good, now that Lincoln ran into Chase and got him out here today! We didn't know what had happened to any of you guys! There was all that shit on the news accusing you, _all_ of you, of killing that girl! People were talking about maybe your cult—shit, sorry, your religion, Karolina—”

 

“No, it's a cult,” Karolina agreed, smiling. “I'm not in it anymore.”

 

“Everybody was saying that they had something to do with it, and the cops said it was all a misunderstanding, but none of you came back to school!”

 

“We've been through a lot,” Nico admitted. “I guess we'll all get our GEDs at this point. I don't think we're coming back to Atlas.” She looked up to Karolina, who nodded in agreement.

 

“Good,” said a snarky voice from behind Max.

 

The blonde boy turned around, revealing the decidedly unfriendly face of Eiffel and three of her friends.

 

“Well, I guess the cops didn't arrest you and your satanist friends after all,” said the brunette, wearing a sundress and heels despite being on a grass field. She flashed Nico a condescending look, her upper lip curling slightly. “You look like you're living in a homeless shelter,” she sniffed.

 

“Well, you wouldn't count as human,” Nico replied slowly.

 

“Oh, the goth girl can talk!” Eiffel shot back. “How _adorable_.”

 

“Adorable!” chirped one of the followers that were clustered just behind and beside Eiffel.

 

Nico gave that chirpy girl, a blonde that wasn't the least bit familiar to her, an angry look, then bared her teeth at the girl. She was pleased when the blonde looked uneasy and took a step to partially hide behind one of the other girls.

 

“Karolina,” Eiffel said, turning her attention to the taller blonde. She obviously looked Karolina up and down, then said, “Are you putting on weight? You look a bit bloated today.”

 

Karolina looked to the side, at Nico.

 

The jet-haired witch gave her girlfriend a quizzical look, along with a very subtle shrug of her shoulders; they had been together long enough for Karolina to recognize this as Nico's _whatever-you-want-to-do_ gesture.

 

Nico wouldn't mind if Karolina told Eiffel the truth. The realization of that briefly staggered Karolina.

 

Even knowing that gossip as white-hot as “the cult girl that dropped out of school is pregnant” would spread around all of Atlas Academy in less than twenty-four hours, Nico still would support and stand by Karolina if she chose to drop that bomb on one of their old persecutors.

 

Karolina looked at her petite girlfriend. She reached out and took Nico's hand, and Nico laced her fingers through Karolina's without hesitation. They stood together.

 

And these bitches didn't deserve to know about Karolina's and Nico's baby.

 

Karolina turned to look at Nico as the smaller woman stepped up beside her; the blonde gave Nico a smile of contentment, of happiness, and in return, Nico gave Karolina's a hand a squeeze of support.

 

Karolina turned to look at Eiffel again. “You know, I really don't have anything to say to you,” she told the brunette. “You don't deserve to know anything about me, or Nico, or any of us. You're obviously still the same shallow, vapid bitch that you were when we went to school with you, and I refuse to waste any of today on you.”

 

Nico took a step forward, and immediately Eiffel and her followers took a half-step back; the reflexive action made Karolina smile even more.

 

“London...” Nico began.

 

“Eiffel,” corrected the brunette.

 

“Whatever,” Nico said dismissively. “Karolina is more beautiful when she wakes up in the morning than you will _ever_ be on your best day.”

 

Nico took another step forward, and this time Eiffel managed to hold her ground, though she seemed to tremble slightly as Nico drew within a few centimeters of the other woman.

 

'Karolina is happy, she's healthy, and she's kind,” Nico continued. “That's what truly makes someone beautiful. _Physical_ appearance is just that—physical. _You're_ physically attractive, though Kar still kicks your ass there, too, but you base all your self-worth and your value of others on something that's temporary and, in the long run, doomed. Our bodies are going to break down. That's inevitable. And when that happens to you, you're fucked. Because you have nothing else past your physical attractiveness. There's nothing appealing about being spiteful, or mean, or petty.”

 

“Well...” Karolina said slowly, prompting Nico to turn and look at her girlfriend with a curious look on her face.

 

The blonde flashed a coy smile at Nico. “It's hot watching you put shallow bitches in their place,” she said slowly.

 

Nico gave Karolina one of her private smiles. The blonde lightly tugged on Nico's hand; Nico obligingly turned and stepped toward Karolina, letting the blonde embrace her as they kissed gently, their lips lingering there comfortably.

 

“Oh. My. God.” Eiffel's face screwed up into a look of disgust. “You're both lesbians?!”

 

Nico and Karolina softly ended their kiss, their gazes lingering warmly on each other as their lips separated.

 

“Actually, you ignorant twit,” said someone approaching from behind Eiffel's little group, “Nico's bisexual, which IS a thing, and bi erasure is evil.”

 

The four girls turned to see Gert approaching, her face hot with righteous anger.

 

“Karolina is gay, and that's okay too. We're proud of her and Nico both, because they fucking _love_ each other.” Gert stopped about two meters away from Eiffel and the other three girls, who started to look uneasy sandwiched between Nico and Karolina behind them and Gert in front of them.

 

Gert pushed her glasses higher up on her nose. “You know who else loves each other?” she asked, not waiting for a reply before adding, “Chase and me! So you, Eiffel,” she said, turning to glare directly at the brunette, “can take your little fantasies of fucking Chase in your parents' bedroom—which is kinda twisted, but not wanting to slut shame—and stuff them up your ass!”

 

The brunette looked angry, but more than that, she looked horrified. “W-what did you say?!” she stammered.

 

“If _I_ were you,” Gert continued, still directing her wrath at the taller, thinner brunette, “ _I'd_ be a lot more concerned about this little bitch—,” pointing at the blonde girl with Eiffel, “—fucking your boyfriend!”

 

Eiffel whirled around to confront the other girl. “Kaylee?! What the FUCK?!” she screamed at the blonde.

 

“She's lying!” the blonde, pointing at Gert. “She's, she's, she's fucking _psycho!_ You know she is!”

 

Gert just smiled coldly at the trembling girl. “Let's see, you fucked him last night, when you were supposed to be at debate team practice—how the fuck are you even on debate team? God, their standards have really fallen—and you told Eiffel that you were having really bad cramps.”

 

“You fucking BITCH!” Eiffel shrieked, arms stiff and fists clenched in rage as she glowered at Kaylee.

 

“But you prob ought to lay off on that one, girl, because Eiffel here has chlamydia, and she hasn't told boytoy yet.”

 

“WHAT?!” screeched Kaylee. “No wonder my coochie was stinging!”

 

Behind the drama, Nico, Karolina and Molly were all standing open-mouthed in shock.

 

“Nico, what the fuck is going on?” Karolina asked quietly, unable to tear her eyes away from the scene.

 

Nico was likewise paralyzed, eyes locked in on the social carnage with morbid curiosity. “I have no idea,” she said just as softly, “but I can't look away from it.”

 

Gert whirled to look at another of Eiffel's friends, the tallest of the four, a girl who had been on several of Atlas's athletic teams. “Oh my god, _you_ are disgusting!” Gert said, gagging once. Seeing all four of the clique regarding her carefully, Gert pointed at the tallest one. “When all of you sleep over at her house, she's taking your toothbrushes and dipping them in the toilet to get back at each of you, because she secretly hates all of you!”

 

The dark-haired girl stammered, unable to say anything.

 

Gert turned to the fourth member of the group, a dangerously thin redhead. “Honey,” Gert said, “you need to stay the hell away from these girls. They don't give a shit about you, and you aren't a bad person at heart. Once you ditch these bitches, you'll feel a lot better about yourself. You need to take care of you, okay?”

 

The stunned girl nodded.

 

Gert moved closer to her and put a hand on the girl's shoulder. “I get feeling bad about yourself. I've struggled with that for a long time. And it takes time, and a lot of effort, changing the way you think about things. But hanging out with toxic people who reinforce negative self-images isn't the way to find happiness. There are people out there who genuinely care about you, not about what you can do for them. That's who you need to be talking to and spending time with.”

 

“H-How do you know all this?!” asked the redheaded girl.

 

Gert's expression shifted into one of confusion. “I... don't know?” she said, voice trailing off.

 

Chase was running toward them as Gert started to tremble. Karolina and Nico both rushed forward, managing to grab her and break her fall as the purple-haired woman collapsed.

 

“What the hell just happened?” Nico asked as she and Karolina knelt over Gert.

 

Karolina shook her head. “I have no idea.”

 

“What happened?!” Chase called out, dropping to his knees in front of Gert.

 

“She started talking to Eiffel's little clique,” Karolina explained as Nico checked Gert's neck for a pulse, then sighed in relief as she found the other woman's heartbeat was strong and steady, though fast. “Calling out all this shit they had done that there's no way she could have known.”

 

Chase started sliding his arms beneath Gert, picking her up. “She was saying that her head was hurting while we were talking to Mike and Greg and some of the guys from Atlas that were okay. Then she said something about Eiffel talking too loud and that it was making her head hurt, even though you guys were all the way over here. Then when I looked around, she was gone.”

 

Chase pulled Gert to his chest, then used his strong legs to stand up, holding his girlfriend.

 

“GUYS!”

 

Chase, Nico, Karolina and Molly turned to see Alex running down the hill toward them. “What the fuuuck...” Nico drawled out, looking back to Chase holding Gert, then looking again at Alex running toward them.

 

“Our parents?” Molly asked, and just voicing that thought instantly put all of them on alert.

 

“I don't see any drones,” Karolina said, scanning above them.

 

“And nobody's moving toward us,” Nico said, turning around slowly to take in all their immediate surroundings.

 

“Guys!” Alex said again, coming to a stop as he reached them. “Something's up with Old Lace! She started making these funny noises, then she just passed out!”

 

“Well, Gert started acting really weird,” Chase said, holding the unconscious Gert, “then she passed out, too.”

 

“They're psychically connected,” Molly said, quicker than any of the others could voice it.

 

“Let's get Gert back to Old Lace,” Nico said, getting quick nods from the rest of them.

 

“Mol, you grab the chairs,” Karolina said, as Chase and Alex both started to run toward the parking lot. “Nico and I will get the trash and blankets.”

 

“Got it,” said the youngest Runaway, taking off toward the spot where they had been seated.

 

“What's going on, Nico?” Karolina asked, as she and Nico both started running after Molly.

 

“Shit's changing,” Nico said. “And I'm not sure if it's good or bad.”

 

—O—

 

When Gert came to, her head felt like it had been trapped in a pinball machine. “Ow,” she said weakly, immediately wincing in pain with the effort.

 

“Gert!” said Chase, immediately at her side.

 

Gert smiled, her facial muscles aching with the movement. She felt around without moving her arms much; it felt like she was in a bed, judging from the soft fabric beneath her.

 

The sound of breathing beside her made her turn; her head swam briefly with the motion. She saw Old Lace laid out beside her on the bed she usually shared with Chase, the Deinonychus's head supported by several pillows.

 

“You okay, girl?” Gert asked softly.

 

Lace's lips pulled back slightly, and she huffed wearily, the warm breath blowing across Gert's face.

 

“Yeah, I'm not sure what's going on, either,” Gert replied. “How did you get up here? You were in...” Her voice trailed off for a few seconds. “Oh, Molly, yeah, that makes sense...”

 

She turned over, again fighting back nausea, and this time Old Lace groaned as well. “Chase,” Gert said, her voice gentle and her expression wistful. “God, I love you so much...”

 

“I-I love you, too, Gert,” he replied, genuinely afraid that his girlfriend was dying.

 

“I'm not dying,” Gert said immediately. “Not sure what the fuck is going on, but I think my head hurts too much to be dying.” She sighed. “Goddammit, Nico, I am _not_ going to the hospital,” she mumbled weakly.

 

“What?” asked Chase, clearly confused. “Nico isn't—”

 

“We need to take her to the hospital!”

 

Chase turned around to see Nico standing in the doorway, Karolina directly behind her. Judging from how the two swayed briefly, it looked they had both just come to a stop in the doorway to Gert's room.

 

Chase turned around to look at Gert again, but she had either fallen asleep or passed out again. He watched long enough to see her chest rise and fall, then he turned around to face Nico and Karolina. “She... She said she isn't going to the hospital.”

 

“Uh, she didn't say shit,” replied Nico. “She passed out again.”

 

Chase swallowed. “She said it... before you got here.” He looked to see Molly and Alex peek in, Molly beneath Karolina's arm, Alex over Karolina's shoulder.

 

“I think...” Chase began, not believing what he was about to say. “I think... Gert just got a superpower.”

 

—O—

 

Gert and Old Lace both slept the rest of the day.

 

When Gert awoke in the middle of the night, her bladder about to burst, the first thoughts that washed over her were those of Molly. They were good feelings, a sense of comfort and belonging, wrapped up with images of all the Runaways, Gert most of all.

 

“Oh Mol, you're so sweet,” Gert whispered, reaching out to touch her sister's cheek. Molly had apparently found a cot somewhere and set it up directly beside Gert's bed.

 

“Gert?” Molly mumbled sleepily, then turning into wakefulness when she saw Gert's eyes open. “Gert!”

 

“Hey, kiddo,” Gert said, partially closing her eyes against the surge of thoughts and feelings—relief _happy_ concern _yesyesyes—_ that suddenly pounded her like a powerful wave. “Ow,” she moaned softly. “Don't think so loud, Mol, okay? Please?”

 

Molly nodded.

 

“I've got to pee,” Gert said, trying to sit up but not having much success.

 

“I got you,” Molly said, easily standing and scooping Gert up. She carried her big sister to the bathroom, pausing by the toilet. “Pull 'em down,” she said, still holding Gert.

 

“Uh, Mol...”

 

“Gert, if I try to stand you up, you're gonna fall. We both know it. Pull your shorts down. I'll set you on the toilet.”

 

Too weak to protest more, Gert feebly nodded, then proceeded to do as Molly said. Molly continued to support Gert as the older woman urinated, then she helped steady Gert as she wiped and got her underwear and shorts back in place. Once that was done, Molly held her sister over the sink, let her wash her hands, then carried her back to bed.

 

“Thank you,” Gert whispered to the younger girl, who was now nearly as tall as she was. When did she grow so much? “You're a good sister, Mol.”

 

Molly placed a kiss on Gert's forehead. “So are you,” she said, fighting back tears.

 

“Don't make me cry,” asked Gert, smiling. “God, you have so much love in your heart.”

 

Molly blinked tears away. “Only for people I care about,” she replied.

 

Gert's arm and hand were shaky as she reached out and pressed her palm against Molly's head. “I'm glad I'm one of them,” she said, right before falling asleep.

 

Molly gently lifted Gert's arm, now limply hanging down off the side of the bed. She repositioned it in a better spot, then pulled the blanket back up over her sister.

 

Gert was easy.

 

Getting Old Lace to the bathroom (specifically, the shower/tub) an hour later was a bit trickier, but Molly managed.

 

—O—

 

It took a week for Gert to really feel comfortable venturing outside her and Chase's room.

 

She spent most of that time practicing, testing her perceptions with Chase and Molly. Old Lace's presence seemed to be a mitigating factor for Gert's newfound psychic perception; the closer the Deinonychus was, the more the psychic bond between the two dominated Gert's psychic “radar,” as she started to call it, drowning out the constant hum and buzz of others' thought as her mind focused on Lace's. The farther away Lace was from Gert, the more overwhelming the sensation of other's thoughts felt. When that happened, Gert could detect more detail in thoughts and memories, like she had done at Chase's lacrosse game, but trying to process everything around her was like trying to drink from a fire hose. Her mind was still trying to recover from that initial experience, and it felt like having a hangover constantly.

 

In short, it sucked.

 

The first two days were terrible, with her head constantly pounding and Old Lace whimpering in the bed beside her. Chase braved the crowded bed, squeezing between the dinosaur and Gert; this resulted in an image so adorable that Molly took a picture and shared it with the others, Gert with Chase's arm draped across her waist, then Old Lace's green forelimb stretched protectively across both humans.

 

By the third day, Gert started to have some success tuning out the thoughts of others. Old Lace was able to leave her side for a short time, but the crush of psychic noise continued to rapidly overwhelm her, leaving her only able to perceive a general roaring inside her head, with none of the clear images she had sensed at the lacrosse game.

 

Trying to learn how to be a functional psychic felt like learning to ride a bicycle with two flat tires in the dark, on a steep hill that was covered in sharp rocks, porcupines and locust trees.

 

After a week, her mind had learned how to partially disregard the constant psychic buzz around her, giving her some hope of being able to have some limited interactions with others. However, this came at the cost of having to block out the thoughts of others completely. She would still intermittently register certain intense thoughts around her, but it was out of her control as to when it happened. She _could_ consciously open her mind to receive the thoughts of others, but opening those psychic floodgates inevitably created a furious rush of thoughts and memories that quickly became incapacitating, like at Chase's lacrosse game.

 

Chase strongly wanted to talk to Dale and Stacey Yorkes about what exactly they had done to Gert to establish the psychic bond with Old Lace, but Gert insisted he not contact them; the memories of Not-Stacey assaulting her and Dale kidnapping her and Lace were still too painful. Chase, being a good boyfriend, respected Gert's wishes. (This was mostly because she seemed to be improving; if she started to worsen, he had plans to go to the Yorkes' house with the Fistigons and a caffeine-loaded Molly.)

 

Finally, after eight days, Gert decided to brave leaving the comfort of her bedroom and bathroom. She quietly made her way downstairs shortly after seven in the morning, while everyone else was asleep. The psychic quiet was amazing after so many days of her head throbbing; it felt like aloe on a sunburn inside her mind, and she luxuriated in the moment.

 

After fixing a light breakfast, because vomiting was apparently a thing with psychic overload headaches, she was carefully munching on a piece of toast and taking sips of hot tea at the main dining table when Nico appeared, mostly walking, partly staggering into the dining room on her way to the kitchen.

 

“Morning, Gert,” Nico mumbled, half-asleep and bleary-eyed. Karolina had been very feisty through the night—the pregnancy-induced increased sex drive was starting to make itself known—and Nico was more than a bit exhausted. And sore.

 

“Morning, Nico,” Gert replied softly, not looking up from her newspaper. (She wasn't sure how Alex managed to get newspapers each morning, but she was sure it involved some of the captured PRIDE drones that he had reprogrammed.)

 

Nico continued on into the kitchen, on a quest for her morning black coffee.

 

“OH MY GOD!” came a cry from the dining room.

 

Nico ran, stumbling, back into the dining room, only to stop short, leaning onto the dining table, as she saw the look of shock on Gert's face, the purple-haired woman's eyes squarely locked onto Nico. Neither of them spoke for a few seconds, Nico unsure what the hell was going on, Gert's face frozen in surprise and unable to tear her gaze away from Nico.

 

“Holy fuck,” Gert finally swore softly. “HOLY. FUCK.”

 

Nico's face, bare of makeup, flushed an intense red as she realized what was happening. “Yeah,” she said, wearily. “Goddess, I love her, but I'm fucking _sore_ today.”

 

“Fitting choice of words,” Gert admitted, taking her glasses off and grabbing a napkin to dab at her suddenly sweaty forehead. “Goddamn, Nico. I'm impressed.”

 

Nico grinned, running a hand over her face. “Yeah. I'm lucky.”

 

Gert smiled, replacing her glasses. “She is, too.” She reached out and patted Nico's hand. “I'm happy for you, Nico.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

Nico stood back up and turned away to resume her quest for coffee.

 

Gert closed her eyes and pressed her fingertips to her temples as she tried to shift her perception away from the intense swirl of emotions and memories that hovered around Nico. Those impulses and images were clutched tightly to Nico's mind, to the point that Gert never even felt her approaching, but their intensity was incredible.

 

Karolina, on the other hand, Gert could register as soon as she was somewhere between her and Nico's room and the dining area. Gert didn't open her defenses, but there was a sense of happiness and comfort that she could feel settle in around her, even at a distance.

 

“Gert!” Karolina said, smiling wide as she spotted the other woman. She hurried around the table, hair messy and pinned up with two hair sticks, wearing a shirt that now appeared just a bit too short, revealing part of her belly poking out above the waistband of a nearly worn-out pair of jogging pants.

 

“Jesus, Karolina, your belly is so fucking cute,” Gert said, smiling as Karolina bent over and hugged her. Karolina's thoughts were so positive, so optimistic, that they wrapped around Gert's psychic walls and essentially embraced her mind.

 

Karolina's smile grew wider as she straightened back up, standing so as to accentuate the subtle but evident bulge. “She's growing,” said the blonde. “Dr. Lindell said she looks great.”

 

“We met Chase's mom yesterday,” said Nico, who had returned with two mugs, one plain white and the other sporting a unicorn and rainbow. “She brought us some info on Majesdanian biology and physiology. Took us an hour to figure out how the hell to read the thing, some kind of holographic projector... whatever.”

 

Nico sat down next to Karolina, sliding the white mug in front of her girlfriend and keeping the unicorn one for herself. That drew a raised eyebrow and little smile from Karolina, which Nico met with a knowing smile of her own.

 

Gert was about to quietly take a picture of the scene when Nico glanced over and saw Gert's phone peeking over the edge of the table; she placed her hand in front of the unicorn mug, hiding it from Gert's camera.

 

“Spoilsport,” Gert muttered, as Karolina laughed.

 

“Oh my God, you are so vain sometimes,” the blonde laughed, getting a stern look from Nico. Unfazed, Karolina leaned over and kissed her girlfriend on the nose. “You're adorable, too,” she said, her face hovering in front of Nico's. “You wanna go back upstairs?”

 

“I have to eat something first. And drink this coffee. And maybe get an icepack.”

 

“Okay,” Karolina said, still cheery. “I'm gonna step outside for a few. Get some sun with the baby.”

 

Karolina took a step forward, stopping with her belly and bump nearly at the level of Nico's face. Nico leaned over and pressed her lips to Karolina's bare skin below her belly button. “Enjoy your sun time, little girl,” Nico said softly, her lips still pressed to Karolina's bump as Karolina's right hand drifted down and slid through Nico's loose hair, softly holding Nico's head in place. “Your other mommy loves you.” She placed another kiss on the bump, then sat back in her chair.

 

Karolina knelt down, gazing into Nico's brown eyes. “And Mommy loves Other Mommy,” she said teasingly before kissing Nico again.

 

“Other Mommy is a bit sore,” Nico admitted.

 

“Rest up, then,” the blonde said. “Do you have to work today?”

 

“No, thank Goddess. I have to open at the library tomorrow, though.”

 

Karolina stood, then patted Nico's cheek. “You need to get in bed early tonight, then. You need your sleep. You didn't get much last night.”

 

“No, but it _was_ mighty good,” Nico admitted, leaning into Karolina's hand.

 

“Best I've ever had,” Karolina said proudly.

 

“To be fair, I'm the only one you've ever had.”

 

“Why settle for anything less than the very best?” replied Karolina, smiling and then heading back to their room to change.

 

Nico watched Karolina walk toward the main stairs; the blonde turned before she reached the bottom step and smiled at Nico again as she activated her powers, glowing brightly as she floated up to the second floor.

 

Nico kept watching until the door to their bedroom closed. Not a second later, the screech of Gert's chair sliding drew Nico's attention back to the table, where was Gert was getting to her feet.

 

“You okay?” Nico asked, her face concerned.

 

“Oh, yeah,” Gert said, looking a bit flustered. “I just need to kick Mol out of the room so I can fuck Chase about a half-dozen times.” She waved at the plate, mug and newspaper lying on the table. “I'll clean this shit up later,” she said, fanning herself as she fixing Nico with a stern look. “God, you and Karolina. You're going to kill me. Or Chase.”

 

Nico just looked down at the long table, fighting the silly grin on her face as Gert stomped away.

 

Well, she wasn't capable of hiding her feelings for Karolina. Gert and Chase would just have to deal with it for the time being.

 

“HEY!” came a cry from the main room.

 

Nico looked up in time to see Molly standing out on the second floor as the door to Gert's room slammed in her face.

 

“What the _fuck_ , Gert!” Molly shouted, pounding on the door.

 

Suddenly the door swung open again, and Old Lace half-walked and was half-pushed through the door until she was standing beside Molly, looking confused.

 

The door slammed again.

 

Nico went back to her coffee.

 

—O—

 

Gert felt well enough to join everyone for dinner and game night that evening, and it felt like their family was all together again for the first time in over a week.

 

Alex wound up being the traitor in the game of _Betrayal at House on the Hill_ , and the subsequent battle between his traitor and the others lasted well over an hour, with him narrowly winning. Popcorn was spilled, chips were thrown, profanities were spoken, but a good time was had by all.

 

Partway through the game, Nico felt a strange sensation in her chest. She reflexively reached for the Staff of One, as the burning and tingling sensation was right where she normally carried the Staff next to her chest, but it wasn't beside her. Karolina gave her a curious look as Nico stood and swiftly walked to their room.

 

The Staff was lying in the chair next to their bed, right where she had left it. She moved across the room and picked it up. It felt unchanged, cool to the touch with a vague sensation of pent-up energy contained within it.

 

“Nico?”

 

She turned to see a concerned Karolina standing in the doorway. “I had a weird feeling downstairs,” she said, turning to face Karolina. “It was like how the Staff felt hot the other day when my mom showed up.”

 

“But you left the Staff up here.”

 

“Yeah. I did.”

 

“That's definitely strange.”

 

“Yeah. Seems fine, though. Let's get back downstairs. I don't want to worry everyone.” She tucked the Staff into the waistband of her shorts as she and Karolina went back downstairs.

 

—O—

 

The next time Nico felt the sensation, she was in the shower; she had gotten more than a bit worked up during the game, and she didn't want to go to bed sweaty. As soon as she felt the tingle and burn along the side of her chest, lasting just a second, she threw the curtain back and held out her hand, calling for the Staff.

 

Her fingers closed around it as soon as it struck her hand, and she heard Karolina shout at the same time.

 

“OHMYGOD NICO!”

 

Nico was out of the shower, dripping and reaching for a towel when Karolina ran into the shower.

 

“The Staff—” Karolina began, stopping short at the sight of her very naked, wet, sexy girlfriend standing in front of her, holding up the Staff of One in a ready position. Karolina's expression changed from one of shock to one of seduction. “Well, I like where this is going,” she said, smiling as she closed in on a dripping Nico.

 

“Are you okay?!” Nico asked, checking Karolina for any sign of injury, but the blonde seemed perfectly fine. “What hap—“ She stopped, and tried not to get frustrated as Karolina groped her. “Karolina. That's my breast.”

 

“Yes, it is. And this is the other one.”

 

Nico's eyes closed and she sucked her lower lip in, trying not to break down and give in, because _what the fuck had just happened_ but damnation if Karolina wasn't seriously getting her worked up.

 

“Kar,” Nico tried again. “Baby.”

 

“Uh huh?” the blonde murmured softly, pulling Nico in closer and wrapping her arms around the smaller woman.

 

“I'm soaking wet.”

 

“Me too.”

 

“And I didn't finish my shower.”

 

“You can finish it later.”

 

“Why did you scream a minute ago?”

 

“Oh. I thought the Staff was going to knock me down. You called it, right?”

 

“Yeah, I had another one of those weird pains. I had been waiting on it to hit again, so I called the Staff immediately.”

 

“Well, I was folding clothes.”

 

“... And?”

 

“And I was between the Staff and the bathroom.”

 

“Oh shit, Kar, I'm sorry. Did it hit you?”

 

“No, it went... around me.”

 

Nico stepped back to look at the her girlfriend. “Around you?”

 

The blonde nodded. “Yeah. Just sort of curved right around me,” she said, using her hand to indicate a curve in the middle of an otherwise straight motion. She reached out and stroked her fingertips down the ebony shaft. “Thanks for not hitting me,” she said to the Staff.

 

She looked up at Nico, her blue eyes curious. “You want me to hold it for you while you finish your shower?”

 

Nico looked leery of that idea. “I'm... not sure that's the best idea.”

 

“I can sit here by the shower. Keep you company. That way the Staff is right here with you.”

 

Nico looked at the Staff, seeing if she could sense anything from the artifact, but she couldn't detect anything out of the ordinary. Karolina's fingers were already overlapping Nico's, partly touching the Staff directly.

 

“You remember what happened the last time we both were holding the Staff?” asked Karolina, a playful look on her face.

 

Rather than reply verbally, Nico nodded. With a thought on her part, the Staff retracted to its smaller state, making Karolina laugh with delight at the sensation of it shifting beneath her fingers. Nico hesitantly loosened her grip, maintaining eye contact with Karolina as she let the blonde grip the Staff more securely, until Karolina was holding it completely.

 

Nico lifted a finger to her lips as she looked at Karolina, smiling at her girlfriend, who nodded simply and, with no other place to sit, situated herself on the toilet, still dressed. Nico smiled and placed a kiss on Karolina's golden hair, then retreated back into the shower.

 

—O—

 

“I was _so_ fucking nervous while I was finishing the shower,” Nico said as she finished rubbing a moisturizer into her hands. She had on a long black nightshirt that was a size too big for Karolina; as such, it nearly swallowed Nico, going down below her knees.

 

Karolina moved to stand behind Nico, who was seated in front of their vanity's large mirror. The blonde was wearing pink pajama pants with llamas printed all over them, along with a soft yellow pajama shirt that clearly didn't match the pants at all, although the pajamas did fit properly. She bent over and wrapped her arms around Nico's arms and chest, smiling as she looked at Nico in the mirror. “I wasn't nervous at all. I knew you were right there to protect me if anything happened.”

 

“Aw,” Nico said softly, smiling into the mirror. “You want to ride into town with me in the morning?”

 

“You mean, 'Can I fly into town in your arms in the morning, land somewhere deserted and then walk to the nearest bus stop?'”

 

“Yeah, that.”

 

Karolina placed a kiss on Nico's cheek. “I suppose that can be arranged.”

 

“I work at the library tomorrow,” Nico said. “So I can walk you to work instead of the other way around.”

 

“Yay,” Karolina said, stepping back to let Nico stand up from their vanity bench. “I like showing my hot goth girlfriend off to my coworkers.”

 

“The car wash is still going okay?”

 

“Yeah. I like getting to work outside, and the guys are all super nice since you made an example out of that one.”

 

“I didn't like the way he was staring at your ass. I'm protective of my woman.”

 

Karolina hugged Nico as she stood beside the bed. “I appreciate that,” she said as she felt the raven-haired woman's arms embrace her as well.

 

“I'll take care of you, baby.”

 

“I know you will.”

 

A noise that sounded oddly like a hissing or sawing was suddenly in their room. Nico and Karolina leaned back to look at each other, then they both turned to see what looked like a small shower of yellow-orange sparks fall out of thin air, dropping and dancing across the floor before vanishing.

 

Nico stepped back from Karolina, who immediately illuminated. The Staff lightly smacked into Nico's outstretched left hand as they watched the sparks curl into a curved line, forming a semicircle drawn in the air itself.

 

“What the heck is that?” asked Karolina.

 

“I have no fucking idea,” Nico replied. “But the Staff feels just like that stinging in my chest does, hot and tingling.”

 

Karolina turned to look at Nico, swirling colors and hair registering confusion. “Connected?”

 

Nico gave her a nod. “Sure looks that way.”

 

The glowing yellow line finished its circular path, still sending the same flickering spray of sparks falling to the ground. The circle began to expand, going from roughly a meter in diameter to easily twice that, its lowest segment stopping right before it touched the floor. Inside its glowing perimeter, the air shimmered, and then the other side of their room that they had been able to see through the circle was suddenly replaced with... something totally different.

 

“Tina, why aren't you answering me?” called a man's voice. “This is critical! We need—”

 

As the man stepped through the glowing circle into their bedroom, Karolina trapped him in a luminous energy field, making sure to immobilize his arms, hands and legs as she yanked him into the room.

 

The man looked confused; he was older, early to mid-forties, with a neatly trimmed mustache that ran down and across both sides of his chin. His dark hair was graying in places, and he was wearing what looked like a blue tunic or robe over dark pants and leather boots that looked handmade. Most striking was the red cloak that fluttered and rippled from where it was attached at his shoulders; the cloak actually seemed to be _striking_ at Karolina's energy field.

 

The man looked up from his awkward position, tilted somewhat forward and held not quite a meter off the ground. His eyes settled on Nico and Karolina; despite his compromised position, he seemed to be rather untroubled by his current predicament.

 

“ _That_ is the Staff of One,” he said confidently as he took in the other two.

 

“No shit,” Nico replied, the Staff's headpiece flickering to life as yellow-white electricity began to spark inside the circle of metal.

 

“But _you're_ not Tina Minoru,” continued the man.

 

Nico and Karolina looked at each other briefly, then they returned their gaze to the man. “Again, no shit,” Nico stated.

 

He closed his eyes and shook his head briefly, as if he was frustrated and trying to clear the air. “Please forgive my lack of manners,” the man said, looking at them. “My name is Doctor Stephen Strange, and my colleagues and I desperately need the assistance of the Staff of One to prevent a godlike celestial being from breaching the mystic boundaries between his dimension and ours, so that he can forcibly destroy everything in this plane of existence.”

 

The man hovered in place, still suspended in Karolina's energy field, his somewhat-long hair and a large, ornate amulet around his neck both hanging downward. Across the room, Nico and Karolina just stared at him for a few seconds before they slowly turned to look at each other.

 

“That sounds bad,” Karolina whispered, her glowing face obviously concerned.

 

“Yeah,” Nico whispered back. “Stand him up, but don't let him go.”

 

Karolina nodded. She moved her arms, and the glowing beams of light that connected her hands and the energy field around the man shifted, rotating him so that he was upright, the amulet now bumping against the edge of the energy field where it had slid out.

 

“Okay,” Nico said as she slowly approached the man, Karolina moving with her. “Doctor Stephen Strange, do you normally creep into the bedrooms of teenage girls when they're getting ready to go to bed, or is this a special occasion?”

 

“I was looking for Tina Minoru,” he said, clearly but with a hint of expediency in his tone. “My colleagues and I are holding back Dormammu for the time being, but we need the power of the Staff of One to stop this breach!”

 

“Tina doesn't wield the Staff of One any more,” replied Nico. “I do. I'm her daughter, Nico. This is Karolina, my girlfriend.”

 

“Hi,” Karolina said, smiling as she continued to maintain the man's restraint. “I would wave, but...”

 

“Did you kill Tina for the Staff?” he asked Nico, surprisingly calmly.

 

“No! She offered it to me for protection, and I accepted it.”

 

“So it's bound to you, now,” he said, nodding to himself. “You're the only one who can use it.”

 

“Not really,” Karolina said before catching herself.

 

Nico and the man both looked at Karolina, who looked a bit embarrassed.

 

“Sorry!” Karolina whispered to her girlfriend.

 

“You can use the Staff?” asked the man, surprised.

 

The glowing woman looked at Nico before answering; Nico gave her a shrug and a nod. She looked back at this Dr. Strange. “I have,” she answered. “Once.”

 

“ _That_ shouldn't have happened,” he replied. “Can you touch the Staff without it reacting... let's say, _adversely_ , to you?”

 

“Yeah?” answered Karolina.

 

“So you two are mystically bonded, then.”

 

“Well, we're not married,” Karolina said. She looked at Nico. “Do you want to get married? One day?”

 

Nico's face went from a look of disbelief to a hesitant smile as Karolina regarded the smaller woman. “Yeah,” she said quietly. “Always thought marriage was a bunch of shit, but I'd... I'd love to marry you.”

 

Karolina felt her heart swell with joy. “I'd like that too.”

 

“Human customs have nothing to do with souls and spirits,” said Dr. Strange, with both young women turning their attention back to where he hovered, still encased in Karolina's light field. “Tina and Robert Minoru were legally married, and the Staff hated him. If you, young lady,” he said, looking at Karolina, “are able to touch and actually _use_ the Staff, then not only are you tightly bound to the Staff's wielder, but the Staff accepts you as well.”

 

Karolina looked at Nico, smiling proudly. “Your Staff likes me.”

 

“Well, duh,” Nico replied, but there was no venom on her words. Not for Karolina. “Of course the Staff likes you. I hate everybody, and _I_ love you. Plus you're incredible.”

 

“Aw,” Karolina said, and the colors swirling over her seemed to shift more solidly pink for a few seconds. She kissed Nico's cheek. “Thanks, babe.”

 

Dr. Strange cleared his throat, drawing their attention back to him. “I apologize for entering your sanctum without your permission. However, time is of the essence. Will you please help us repel Dormammu's attack?”

 

Karolina looked to Nico; after a moment of consideration, Nico gave her girlfriend a nod, after maintaining eye contact with her long enough to ask her to keep her guard up.

 

With a gesture of her hands, the streams of light stopped, dropping the male sorcerer a few inches onto the floor. He landed surprisingly well, maintaining his balance.

 

“Thank you,” he said with relief.

 

“We need to change first,” Nico said.

 

“There's no time for that,” said Dr. Strange. “Wong and the others are struggling against Dormammu's assault. We need the Staff's power!”

 

Nico stood her ground. “I'm not going to fight some extradimensional godlike entity wearing just a nightshirt and panties. I've seen enough anime to know how that shit ends.”

 

Karolina tried to keep from giggling but came up a bit short.

 

Nico looked at her girlfriend. “You want to change, too?”

 

Karolina shook her head. “I'm good, babe. But thanks.”

 

Nico lifted the Staff slightly. _“Insta-change just me, for cosmic fight!”_

 

The electricity inside the Staff's headpiece crackled to life, filled the circle with white-gold light. A flash of light of the same hue filled the room, and when the light was gone, Nico was wearing a long sleeveless black dress with a laced corset top, long black lace gloves that went nearly to her shoulders, her favorite buckled black ankle boots, stockings with alternating black and pink stripes and a short silver necklace with a pentacle. Her hair was pulled back into a long segmented braid that fell halfway down her back, with small pink ribbons and charms hanging from each of the ties spaced along the braid.

 

“ _God_ , you're so cute,” Karolina said softly, openly staring at her girlfriend.

 

“Thanks,” Nico said, giving her girlfriend a smile before turning to the other sorcerer in the room. “Let's go kick Cthulhu's ass.”

 

—O—

 

As Nico stepped through the sizzling mystical circle drawn in the air by Dr. Strange, they emerged on a wide, flat platform. It immediately struck Nico as a dojo despite the surface being carefully laid stone, and she was struck with a sudden urge to remove her boots out of respect.

 

Then she saw the surreal sight laid out before them.

 

“Oh, fuck, Nico,” Karolina whispered in her ear; obviously she was looking at the same impossible sight.

 

Over a hundred meters away across the large open space, at least thirty or forty men and women wearing green and yellow robes were gathered together. Even at a distance, Nico and Karolina could see glowing sigils and symbols in front of their outstretched hands, arrayed against what looked like multiple different missiles; some looked like arrows, others like flaming rocks or stones, others like spears or streaks of pure darkness.

 

All of the missiles were flying out of what looked like a tear in reality hanging roughly four meters above the ground; it was an effect not unlike what they had seen through the stepping portal Dr. Strange had made for them, but instead of neat geometric lines of light as a boundary, the edges of this rent were jagged slashes that seemed to ooze darkness.

 

As they took in the sight, a massive bolt of blue-black lightning struck the group of sorcerers with a terrific clap of thunder and hissing of power; several bodies were blasted backward, one aflame, and at least half of the mystic shields collapsed beneath the powerful strike.

 

“Hurry!” said Dr. Strange, flying past, his red cloak fluttering with motion.

 

They immediately followed, Nico running until Karolina swept her up, her right arm around Nico's waist. She easily caught up with Dr. Strange as they flew.

 

“The Staff of One is from Dormammu's Dark Dimension,” he said, “but it's not something he created. As such, he can't control it. He was able to kill its creator millennia ago, but that only made the Staff hate him more. As such, it's our best protection and best weapon against him.”

 

“And he's the giant cosmic entity?”

 

“Yes. He rules the Dark Dimension and is its undisputed master. His power is greatest in his home realm, but he hungers for other realms to corrupt and absorb into his own.”

 

“How do we beat him?” Nico called out, trying not to yell in Karolina's ear.

 

Another crack of dark lightning slammed into the crowd of mystics as they neared. Again, several were blasted away. The one that had been on fire was now up, running to rejoin the others, robes still smoking but no longer ablaze.

 

“The Staff can mitigate Dormammu's magic, like a lightning rod of sorts. At least, that's how Tina would use it. She'd then use that magic and channel it into repelling the assault long enough for us to repair the reality breach.”

 

“Okay, that doesn't sound too hard,” Nico said, lying through her teeth. She looked at Karolina, and the two of them shared a worried look.

 

Dr. Strange landed a short distance away from the gathered mystics. “You'll have to get closer with the Staff. Your companion should probably stay back here.”

 

“Fuck that,” Karolina said, her face setting into a look of determination. “I can help shield Nico.”

 

“Kar,” Nico said, lightly grasping Karolina's left arm. “Please stay back here. I don't want you or the baby to get hurt.”

 

“Baby?” said the man, confused.

 

“Nico, I can—”

 

“You can project your energy at a distance,” Nico quickly added. “You can help protect me that way, baby, okay?”

 

Karolina opened her mouth to argue before she recognized the intense emotion in Nico's dark brown eyes.

 

Nico was _scared_.

 

Karolina nodded. “Okay,” she said softly. “I'll... I'll stay back here with the baby and help shield you as much as I can, okay?”

 

Nico nodded, relief evident on her face. “Thank you,” she spoke carefully. “I love you.”

 

“Love you too.” Karolina leaned down as Nico stood on the tip toes of her boots, and they kissed softly. “Don't take any shit from that guy, okay?” Karolina said, forcing a confident smile on her face. “He's just a cosmic entity.”

 

“I've got you backing me up,” Nico replied. “I'll be good.”

 

They shared another look and smile, then Nico turned and ran toward the crowd beneath the spatial rift.

 

As she reached the crowd, she could feel the Staff pulse beneath her fingers; whether the sensation was anticipation, anger or some other feeling, she couldn't tell.

 

Suddenly light bloomed around her, causing the robed mystics nearest her to turn to regard her, parting to make way for her to pass. Nico looked down to see Karolina's multicolored light draped around her, over her, like a protective cloak.

 

She pushed ahead, holding the Staff overhead. When she was nearly to the front of the crowd, another bolt of gleaming blue-black lightning flashed through the portal, faster than she could even perceive, much less react. It happened too fast for her to appreciate in real time, but as the dark bolt neared the mystics, it swerved to strike the Staff of One's headpiece. A furious shower of cobalt sparks burst from the headpiece, only to be sucked into the circle of flickering electricity inside that loop of metal.

 

Nico felt power flow through her, more than she had ever felt with the Staff before. She squeezed the Staff tightly, and it _replied_ to her, pulsing outward against her fingers in response.

 

“ _Share the wealth!”_ she shouted, channeling her will into the Staff. A globe of violet light bloomed from the Staff's headpiece, rapidly enlarging from the size of a grapefruit until it was larger than Nico was tall. It then burst, sections of it unfurling outward all around Nico. The violet light sparkled as it descended upon the surrounding area, healing those who had been injured. Mystic shields suddenly flared with new brightness, and the surrounding sorcerers, Dr. Strange included, began using their magic to grasp and tug at the ragged sides of the rent in reality, straining to pull the edges closed.

 

Another bolt of cobalt electricity slammed through the now-shrinking rent; it was redirected to the Staff as well, sending more crackling power through Nico's body.

 

She looked up into the void, and tried not to stumble as vertigo crashed upon her like an invisible avalanche. The space beyond was filled with bizarre shapes that glowed with colors both bright and impossible, twisted and spiraling in ways her eyes couldn't follow. Flapping, swirling creatures that looked like pencil smudges shifted from place to place, not actually moving as much as just being elsewhere and there, both at once, neither at once. Instead of the black background of outer space she was used to seeing in pictures, this realm's background had a dark red-purple glow to it, angry and malevolent and hungry.

 

She swallowed the bile that was beginning to rise in her throat. This place was wrong, it shouldn't touch this world, it _couldn't_ touch this world, because everything would be defiled and destroyed and consumed, to feed this dark lust.

 

She could smell the Dark Dimension, even though she had never been there. She could feel its touch on her skin, could hear the hiss and slither of its molecules and energy, anathema to everything she knew and was.

 

It would destroy her. It would destroy Karolina. It would destroy their child.

 

It would destroy everything.

 

Another bolt of electricity, this one larger and more powerful, and the force of the impact stung her arm. Gripping the Staff with both hands, she swung it over her head before snapping its end like she had seen Chase do in the lacrosse game, screaming, _“BACK OFF!”_

 

A globe of sizzling white-blue fire erupted from the Staff's headpiece, the energy hot enough to burn Nico's hands through the Staff. The bolt erupted into the Dark Dimension, incinerating as much as erasing the flapping things as it blasted deeper into the other realm.

 

Nico watched it fly for several seconds, getting smaller as it flew away, before it burst into a massive flash of light, streams of light flying away in all directions, and Nico could hear the fabric of the other realm shriek in pain and confusion.

 

She leaned on the Staff, her legs weak from the exertion. Around her the mystics turned to look at her with reverent respect, though they maintained their shield constructs over their head, just as Karolina sustained her shield around Nico.

 

That was what saved them all.

 

The blast of impact that slammed into reality hit like electrocution, burned like the heat from an open furnace, screamed like a trail derailment as it struck those present both physically as well as spiritually. Nico was blown two meters backward, twirling bodily in the air as she collapsed to the ground, the Staff clattering to the ground beside her. She immediately grabbed it, then looked up to see a dozen, maybe two, spectral figures hovering over the collapsed bodies of the conjurers.

 

She turned to look behind her. Karolina was lying on her back, but she was already regaining her footing, her pink and yellow glow still strong and bright. Dr. Strange was rising to his feet not too far away from Nico's position, staggered himself.

 

A roar that blew Nico's skirt around her legs came from the rift, carrying an odor like burning plastic and a stinging sense of dread.

 

She turned in time to see what looked like invisible but somehow burning shapes emerge from the rift, curling around the edges. Her mind struggled to place what she was seeing; the shapes and positions looked like _something_ , her brain knew, but it couldn't match exactly _what_. The edges of the shapes crackled with red-violet fire, which she knew wasn't good, seeming to outline some structure, but the objects themselves were invisible—or maybe weren't there, in the sense of our reality.

 

As her mind finally grasped what she was seeing, her chest convulsed with terror.

 

The shapes that weren't there were _fingers_. Enormous, flaming fingers, reaching through the rent, grasping the sides of the dimensional tear and pulling outward to enlarge the rift.

 

She had pissed off Cthulhu. Or Dormammu, rather.

 

This was no time for terror. This thing wanted in, and it couldn't have it.

 

Nico ran forward, barely registering Karolina screaming her name far behind her. She felt the warmth of Karolina's light wrap around her once more, and she drew strength from her girlfriend's love and light as she planted her feet only a few meters away from the rent, now the size of an armored tank and expanding, as reality screamed and bled at the corners of the opening.

 

The Staff began to glow as swirls of darkness and light manifested around it, slowly circling its length as Nico drew upon all her will.

 

“ _YOU—SHALL—NOT—PASS!!”_ she screamed, burning her throat with the power she poured into the incantation.

 

—O—

 

Karolina watched as Nico ran toward the widening tear between dimensions, her heartbeat pounding in her throat. It was exactly like when the PRIDE went after them; everyone else ran away, Nico ran toward them.

 

And Nico got the shit beat out of her that time.

 

Karolina got to her feet from where she (along with everyone else) had been knocked down, or worse. She poured her light toward Nico, wrapping her lover in a luminous shield to give her as much protection as she could without moving closer.

 

She really wanted to ignore Nico's request and stand beside her girlfriend, but she knew she couldn't. One, that would risk the life of their child, not just theirs, and, two, doing so would distract Nico when she couldn't afford to be distracted.

 

So Karolina poured her love and fear into her light, and she prayed for Nico.

 

—O—

 

A shining silver-white barrier flashed to life, expanding and slamming against the rift and the abstract “fingers” rending it apart.

 

Nico felt a strain in her head like she had never felt, not even when she had been forced to maintain her illusion across the entire Hostel for hours. That was a slow buildup of pressure and pain; this was being punched in the sides of her head.

 

She closed her eyes and dug her feet into the ground beneath her, straining as she pushed back against the relentless force shoving against her barrier.

 

She felt something shift on the other side of the barrier; looking up, Nico saw what looked like a giant, semi-transparent mass, vaguely resembling a brain, at least according to her sense of perception, shift into being on the other side of the barrier. She couldn't tell if it was a mile away or ten meters away, but that probably didn't matter over there anyway, as the whole Dark Dimension seemed to laugh at Earth physics.

 

As she watched, the irregular red-violet object pulsed slowly, and now she saw that it was made of the same flames as the fingers trying to breach her barrier.

 

_FOOL. I DESTROYED THE CREATOR OF THAT TOY._

 

Nico didn't hear the words so much as feel them and taste them, and the bitterness to them made her nauseous.

 

_I WILL DESTROY YOU. I WILL CONSUME YOU. I WILL CONSUME ALL._

 

And Nico, despite all her willpower, didn't think she had the power to stop him.

 

—O—

 

Karolina saw the... thing, she guessed, slide into view on the other side of the barrier. She felt its speech, for lack of a better word, and she poured even more into Nico's shield, ignoring the burning in her arms and shoulders.

 

When the blast struck the rift, Nico's barrier shattered like plate glass in the face of the red-purple flames. The impact that should have vaporized Nico instead obliterated Karolina's shield and blew Nico up and into the air, tumbling awkwardly as she fought to hold onto the Staff, her ears ringing and her face stinging with heat from something that wasn't fire.

 

Karolina felt like she had grabbed a live power line, but she still launched herself into the air, flying at top speed to carefully catch Nico, letting the momentum push her backward to help diffuse the force and keep from causing any more damage to Nico.

 

Karolina flew them back to the ground. Nico's hair and clothes were smoking, but she didn't see any flames or embers. She looked up to the mystics now regrouped, with Dr. Strange at their head, all working together to pool their magic into three enormous circular shields that they directed at the rift and the two representations of hands on each side of the tear.

 

Nico coughed forcefully as Karolina touched down barefoot on the stone ground. The witch's eyes opened, revealing that her left eye now had a red patch from where a superficial blood vessel had ruptured in the sclera, just lateral to the iris and pupil.

 

“Fuck,” Nico swore, trying to shake off the ringing in her ears and the tingling in her arms and legs. “That asshole hits _hard_.”

 

“Dr. Strange and the others are back at it. You bought them enough time,” Karolina said, carefully setting Nico on her feet, making sure the smaller woman could stand before she fully released her.

 

Nico shook her head, and the motion _hurt_. “No,” she said. “They don't stand a chance. Not without me.”

 

“Nico!” Karolina said, her voice catching. She stared into her lover's eyes, and Nico had never seen Karolina's eyes so blue. Not even the glow of her skin and hair could dampen the intensity of her gaze, and as Nico watched closely, tears slid down Karolina's cheeks, leaving fleeting trails of rainbow spectra where they passed.

 

Nico took Karolina's hands; the Staff of One floated at Nico's side, holding its position even without Nico's touch. “Karolina. That thing is as close to unstoppable as I've ever dreamed of.”

 

“But they've stopped it before!”

 

“With my mom using the Staff! She had her entire life to learn how to use it! I've had less than a year!”

 

“I could help you,” Karolina said, her shoulders straightening.

 

“Baby, I know you could,” Nico said, pausing to press a kiss to Karolina's lips, and God, they felt so wonderful. “But that blast nearly killed me, and that was with you and the Staff protecting me. If you get any closer...”

 

Karolina's mouth quivered. Her eyes closed, and more tears escaped.

 

Nico started to cry as well. “I can't let that thing get through, Kar. I CAN'T. If it gets through, it will destroy everything. I mean EVERYTHING. Not just physically, but spiritually, emotionally. It'll erase memories, thoughts, knowledge, matter, everything that is part of what we know.” She lifted Karolina's hands and kissed her knuckles. “I can't let that happen.”

 

“How can you stop it? You were draining its power before, and that seemed to hurt it when you fought back.”

 

“Yeah, and that really pissed him... it, off. The Staff can hurt him, it's just not strong enough h—”

 

Karolina looked at Nico with dread as the dark-haired witch froze for a moment. “Nico?! What's wrong?”

 

Nico blinked and looked into Karolina's eyes. “You know I love you, right?” she asked, her voice tender, eyes now wet with tears, her cheeks covers with glistening trails.

 

“Absolutely, but—”

 

Nico kissed her quickly, pulling back just a hair as she continued to stare into Karolina's bright blue eyes. “Don't hate me. Please.”

 

Before Karolina could reply, Nico pressed her lips to hers, opening her mouth to deepen the kiss, holding it for several intense seconds. Karolina's body responded, her hands starting to move around Nico's torso, when Nico abruptly spun around and broke into a full run, leaving Karolina dazed and trying to figure out what had happened for just a moment, and that moment was enough.

 

Nico ran, clutching the Staff, ignoring the tears that ran down her face as she charged toward the mystics and the rift in reality.

 

Dormammu was in the seat of his power, the Dark Dimension. He had a home field advantage, because he was at his strongest in his reality.

 

He wasn't the only thing from the Dark Dimension.

 

Nico shoved her way through the mystics, not slowing down. As she reached the rift, she jumped, letting the ambient magic in the air continue to buoy her upward as she passed through the tear between realms.

 

The oily nature of the Dark Dimension felt like she was jumping through a thin sheet of plastic, pressing against her, enveloping her in its different rules and reality.

 

The Staff quivered with power as it drank deeply of its home, and Nico felt her own body flood with power. Dark purple color coalesced around her eyes as the headpiece of the Staff of One began to glow with an unholy dark, bubbling power.

 

What she had felt when the Staff had absorbed Dormammu's bolts of magic had been thrilling, energizing.

 

This...

 

THIS was being a god.

 

Nico sensed/tasted/heard/saw Dormammu's screech of rage at the intrusion into his domain. He reached out through the arcane reality of this realm, but he had no power over the Staff, or its wielder.

 

“ _DORMAMMU!!”_ Nico screamed, not caring if she shredded her vocal cords beyond repair. _“YOU'RE GROUNDED!!”_

 

Raw, dark power exploded from the Staff, a nuclear blast unleashed in a medium that was its own fuel. There was no sound to the explosion, only a brilliant dark so intense that it hurt Nico's eyes, erasing everything she could previously see. The squirming brain-thing that was Dormammu vanished, as did everything else.

 

—O—

 

It was raining.

 

Nico had no idea where she was. She couldn't see anything, and her eyes were open.

 

Well. She thought her eyes were open. She wasn't sure about that either.

 

But it was raining. She could feel the raindrops on her face, and it felt good, cool and refreshing on her burned forehead and cheeks.

 

She looked up into the rain, and...

 

There.

 

There was something.

 

It was a soft light, so soft that she might have missed it if she hadn't been desperately searching for something, anything. As she focused on the light, it began to intensify, the light taking on a soft pink hue, then growing brighter. Now it looked like there was a bit of yellow in it, and maybe some blue, possibly orange.

 

Why was it still raining?

 

—O—

 

Nico's entire body jerked, spasming so powerfully that she nearly threw herself out of Karolina's lap.

 

“NICO!” Karolina yelled, lifting the petite woman up and clutching her to her chest. “Ohgodohgodhogod,” Karolina mumbled rapidly, squeezing her girlfriend tightly.

 

“Hey,” Nico rasped, “Bit... tight.”

 

Karolina's glowing face came into view as the blonde lowered Nico's face far enough away for them to look at each other. “Shut up,” she said to Nico, voice tight.

 

“What?” Nico whispered, confused.

 

“I said, shut up. You scared me to death! I thought you were dead!”

 

“Where...”

 

“Back here. On Earth. With Dr. Creeper and the Robe Boys. And Girls.”

 

Nico's eyes defocused, and Karolina's features briefly became a swirl of colors, even more than usual. “Okay...” she mumbled.

 

Another person's facial features swam into Nico's field of vision, hovering over Karolina's shoulder. The guy with the mustache. He smiled, and his face wasn't completely crooked as he did so. “She brought you back,” he said.

 

Nico blinked. It took her a few seconds to realize to whom the “her” referred. “Kar...?”

 

“Somebody has to save your dumb ass,” Karolina said, wiping tears away from her face. “I went in after you.”

 

“Dang'rous,” Nico whispered, only to be interrupted by a tear splashing against her face.

 

Raindrops.

 

“You don't get to tell me to stay away from the danger,” Karolina said, firmly but not spitefully. “Not if you're going to literally jump right into it yourself.”

 

“He would have killed you,” Nico said, trying to make Karolina's face stay in focus. “He would've killed... our little girl.”

 

“And he very nearly killed you.” Karolina shifted her grip, repositioning Nico lower, so that she could relax onto Karolina's lap again.

 

“Nico Minoru, you better listen to me,” she said, waiting until Nico's walnut eyes focused on her again. “Don't you EVER do anything so, so... _stupid_ , and so _brave_ , and so reckless, ever again, do you hear me?!”

 

Nico smiled up at Karolina. “You're so pretty,” she said softly. She tried to reach up and caress Karolina's cheek but nearly poked Dr. Strange in the eye.

 

“You stop the flattery, missy, do you hear me?” said Karolina, her expression vacillating between smiling and scowling. Sometimes it was hard to choose which one, with Nico.

 

“Okay,” replied Nico.

 

“I mean it, Nico. Don't you _ever_ scare me like that again, okay?”

 

Nico flashed her girlfriend the best smile she could, making her cheeks sting. “No promises,” she rasped.

 

“ _God_ , you're so stubborn!” Karolina said, barely resisting the urge to shake her girlfriend once. Maybe twice. “But that's part of what I love about you.”

 

“What parts?” Nico licked her lips. “D'you love? Of me?”

 

Now Karolina's smile was clear, and as Nico watched, the brilliant swirling colors of her girlfriend faded, replaced with the other face Nico loved.

 

“I love all of you,” Karolina said, another tear hitting Nico, this time on her neck. “The sweet parts, the funny parts, the bitchy parts, the _stubborn_ parts...” she said, holding Nico's gaze until the witch smiled back at her, “the sexy parts, the brave parts, the selfless parts.” She lifted Nico up enough to kiss her sooty forehead. “The loving parts. And the mommy parts.”

 

“Thank you,” Nico said, now registering that her throat was more than a bit raw. “For loving me.”

 

“It's a full-time job.”

 

“I believe it,” Nico said, voice tired as well as ragged.

 

“And you don't always make it easy.”

 

“Sounds like me too.”

 

“But you're worth it.”

 

“I hope so.”

 

Karolina smiled more. “I know so,” she said softly, wiping tears and mascara away from Nico's face. “I don't want to raise this baby by myself, Nico. I want to share this with you. I want her to learn from you as much as from me. But you have to be here for that to happen.”

 

Nico reached up and found Karolina's left hand, grasping her fingers with her own. “I want that, too,” she whispered. Her voice didn't hurt as much that way, which was nice.

 

—O—

 

“So why are you giving me this if I don't know how to use it yet?” Nico said, carefully inspecting the small brass ring Dr. Strange had given her.

 

“Because you're going to learn,” said the other sorcerer. “It's the fastest way to traverse dimensions, but you need to practice— _after_ I show you to use it.”

 

“Okay, yeah,” Nico said quietly, not looking away from the ring.

 

Karolina looked at the older man, her face and body language skeptical. “She's totally going to screw around with it. I hope you know that.”

 

“Why didn't Mom have one of these?” Nico asked, holding the sling ring nearly up to her nose as she scrutinized it.

 

“She did. Does she not have it anymore?”

 

“No clue. But, considering I just learned about the Staff a few months ago, she could have it hidden away somewhere.” Now she looked up at the older magician. “So is this like a secret magic club ring?” she asked, eyes bright.

 

“Oh, God,” Karolina swore softly as she rolled her eyes. “She's going to be insufferable now,” she said to Strange. “I hope you know this, too.”

 

“It is _not_ a secret club ring,” Strange said, a bit testily. He tried to grab the ring from Nico's grasp, but she quickly dodged, putting it behind her back as she looked at him defiantly. He gave her a curious look, then made a small circle in the air with his left hand, conjuring a small glowing portal, then reached through it with his right hand, plucking the sling ring from where Nico was hiding it behind her back.

 

“Hey!” she said, taking two steps toward him, only to be intercepted by Karolina.

 

“I think waiting to use something that can _break dimensional boundaries_ would be a great idea,” the blonde said, giving her girlfriend a stern look. “Because we certainly wouldn't want to accidentally bring something back to our world with us, _would we?”_

 

Nico gave Karolina one of the best eyerolls the blonde had ever seen. _“Fine,”_ the dark-haired witch said dramatically. “I'll wait until you can 'properly show me how to use the ring',” she said, ending the sentence with a passably good imitation of Strange's voice.

 

“Nicoooo,” Karolina said, nearly whining. She turned to look at Strange and the larger man standing with him, Wong. (At least she thought that was what he said when he introduced himself.) “I swear, she's not normally this... disruptive.”

 

“It's a known side effect of the accelerated healing spell we used on her,” Strange said. “Some people react with a mild euphoria, or similar mood disturbance.”

 

“So are you really a doctor, or is that a magic title or something?”

 

“I was a neurosurgeon, prior to my career as a sorcerer,” he said calmly. “Destroyed my hands in a car crash because I was a cocky fool.”

 

A snort from beside Karolina made her jump.

 

“You said 'cock',” Nico said, a grin on her face.

 

“Okay, Miss Minoru, time to get you home and put you in bed,” Karolina said.

 

“Mmm, come to bed with me, baby?” Nico asked, turning to face Karolina; she lifted her right hand and began playing with a loose section of Karolina's hair that was hanging over the blonde's forehead.

 

Karolina placed a kiss on Nico's nose, getting a girlish giggle that was so utterly unlike her girlfriend that she wished she had recorded it. “I'll always go to bed with you, Nico.”

 

Karolina's body flared into incandescence, as she and Nico lifted centimeters off the ground.

 

“You kept your promise,” Nico said, staring into Karolina's eyes.

 

“In what way?” the blonde replied.

 

Nico just kept looking into Karolina's blue eyes for a few seconds, then she started, as if she had just remembered what she was doing. She smiled again. “You said that if I was ever lost in the dark, you'd be my light and come save me.” She kissed Karolina on the cheek, then leaned against her body, pressing her face into Karolina's glowing neck. “You're a good girlfriend, girlfriend.”

 

Karolina held Nico a bit closer, smiling. “So are you, hon.” She looked at Strange again, giving him a little nod while trying not to disturb Nico, who was dozing off.

 

With a quick circular gesture on the part of the Sorcerer Supreme, the now-familiar glowing runic circle appeared, enlarging to reveal their bedroom back at the Hostel. It expanded until Karolina could fit through it while carrying Nico and the now dormant Staff, which Karolina had tucked into the waist of her pajama pants.

 

Karolina quietly flew through the portal, rotating as she and Nico were back in their room at the Hostel. Still floating with Nico weightless, she used her right arm to give a little wave to Stephen and Wong, both of whom were carefully watching her through the portal.

 

The two of them waved back, then the portal sputtered and collapsed, leaving their room all theirs once more.

 

Karolina floated over to their bed, carefully laying Nico down before her glowing skin returned to its non-luminous state and she settled back onto her feet. She carefully laid the Staff in the chair next to Nico's side of the bed, then sat down beside the jet-haired woman. She tenderly ran her fingers across Nico's cheek, prompting a sleepy sniff and wrinkle of the smaller woman's nose.

 

“So beautiful,” Karolina murmured softly, taking a few more seconds to admire her childhood friend who had grown up to become so much more. She leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on Nico's cheek.

 

“Nico,” she whispered in her girlfriend's ear. “We need to get your makeup off and your clothes off, hon.”

 

“Mmm,” Nico mumbled, mostly into the pillow. “Fuck it. Jus' sleep like this.”

 

Karolina smiled. “My hero,” she said, sliding across Nico and lying down in front of the smaller woman. She scooted back, taking care not to hit Nico in the head with her shoulder or elbow, until she felt the warmth of Nico's breath on the back of her neck. She reached behind her, finding Nico's left arm and pulling it securely across her waist before lifting her lover's hand up to her chest, directly over her heart. She placed her own left hand over Nico's, holding it in place as she closed her eyes and finally let herself relax.

 

—O—

 

Neither of them moved for several seconds after the runic portal closed.

 

Finally Wong sighed.

 

“Are you comfortable with a child wielding the Staff of One?”

 

Stephen Strange didn't reply at first, instead continuing to stare at the empty air where the portal had been. Finally he sighed.

 

“You know,” he said, turning around, “We just watched that 'child' knock Dormammu halfway across the Dark Dimension.”

 

Wong didn't turn away from Stephen's gaze for well over a minute, the silence growing more charged each heartbeat, until Wong finally spoke.

 

“Exactly.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo, I know we haven't heard Dr. Strange mentioned on the Hulu shows, but Tina WAS mentioned and even appeared in the Doctor Strange movie as one of the three Sanctum guardians. Different actress, I know, but we work with what we've got.


	5. The Abyss Gazes Back

_Do you know what it's all about_

_Are you brave enough to figure out_

_Know that you could set your world on fire_

_If you are strong enough to leave your doubts_

 

 

\--Kerli, “Walking on Air”

 

 

—O—

—O—

 

“Nicooo!” Karolina said gleefully as they stepped into the Super Baby Mart-Plex store. The blonde's eyes roamed around the enormous store, taking in the aisles ahead and to their right, the displays of furniture farther down, the registers and service counter to the left. “This place is incredible!” she exclaimed, her smile radiant.

 

She was now twenty-three weeks gestation, visibly pregnant but not uncomfortably so. She was wearing a bright blue lace maxi dress romper, the see-through lace skirt falling over her legs. The dress's deep V-neck had been partially buttoned, revealing her sternum and just a small amount of her breasts; normally she would have worn it fully unbuttoned, but with her breasts enlarging, she really didn't want to accidentally flash anyone.

 

If she flashed Nico, well, that would be on purpose.

 

“Uh, yeah,” replied Nico. “It's... cool.”

 

Nico was wearing a black long-sleeved crop top with a front hollow cutout that was crossed with five different buckles and straps, paired with a loose Harajuku style yellow-and-black plaid skirt. Opaque black stockings that came up just above Nico's knees and low-heeled black leather buckled ankle boots covered her legs and feet. Her hair was up in a messy bun, held in place with two long black hair sticks with silver pentacle tops. A silver waist body chain wrapped around the bare skin she was showing between the short top and belted skirt, with a short length of silver chain left dangling in front.

 

Karolina turned to face her girlfriend, giving Nico a grumpy face that was mostly pretend.

 

“Aren't you excited about shopping for our little girl?”

 

Now Nico really did smile. It was soft, but it was honest. “I hate shopping. You know that.”

 

“But...”

 

“ _But_ , I love you, and I love our baby.”

 

Karolina wrapped her right arm around the smaller woman, hugging Nico to her side. “I've never been in a store like this! Where should we start?”

 

“Uh, at the first aisle, maybe?” Nico said, pointing to their right.

 

“Sounds good,” replied Karolina, smiling as she steered Nico down the first aisle.

 

—O—

 

“What kind of budget do we have to work with, hon?” the blonde asked as they slowly pushed a cart down the first aisle, festooned with bags, backpacks, papoose carriers and similar products.

 

Nico lifted up a large diaper bag with padded sides and a plethora of compartments. “I brought four grand in cash with us.”

 

Karolina stopped, holding a set of two pacifiers, and turned to look at Nico. “Well, that should cover it, I'd think,” she said, slightly stunned.

 

“I've, uh, been saving,” Nico said quietly, dropping the diaper bag in the cart Karolina was pushing. It was pink and white, with silver trim and stitching, festooned with unicorns and rainbows.

 

Karolina eyed the bag; Nico looked up and caught her girlfriend giving her an amused look.

 

“It's the gayest thing they've got,” Nico said flatly. “Rainbows, unicorns _and_ the color pink.”

 

“And they don't have any in black.”

 

“Fuck no.”

 

Karolina gave her girlfriend an understanding smile. “We'll keep looking.”

 

—O—

 

They were in the playpen section when they heard a voice approaching them.

 

“I'm sorry I'm late!”

 

Both heads looked up from where they had been leaning into a particularly nice playpen to see Leslie Ellerh Dean hurrying toward them, wearing her usual white blouse, jacket and pants.

 

Instinctively, Nico stepped in front of Karolina, prompting Leslie to stop two meters away; it was obvious she had been approaching for a hug from her daughter, something Nico was having no part of.

 

“We appreciate what you're doing,” Nico said, keeping her voice low and calm. “But after what happened last time, we still don't trust you.”

 

Leslie's smile didn't disappear, but its wattage did seem to dim slightly.

 

“Hi, Mom,” Karolina said, waving over Nico's shoulder.

 

“Hello, dear,” Leslie replied. She turned her attention back to Nico. “Nico, I completely understand the lack of trust all of you have for PRIDE.”

 

“PRIDE didn't drop a text to my mother when we were having lunch,” Nico replied. “That was all you.”

 

“Yes... it was,” Leslie admitted. “And I apologize. To both of you. I thought Tina genuinely had your best interests in mind, Nico. Obviously I was wrong.”

 

Nico looked over her shoulder at Karolina. The blonde held Nico's gaze briefly, then nodded twice. Nico turned to regard Leslie again. “Leslie, the two most important people in my life are right behind me. I _am_ going to protect them.”

 

“And I will too,” Leslie said, taking a cautious step forward. “Karolina is my daughter, and the baby the two of you are expecting is my grandchild. And Nico...” Leslie smiled at the smaller woman. “You're Karolina's partner. I fully plan on protecting you too.”

 

There was a tense silence for several seconds as Nico and Leslie continued to stand apart from each other. Finally Nico sighed.

 

“Fine,” she said, stepping to the side and turning slightly to let Karolina go hug her mom.

 

However, Karolina stopped beside Nico, smiling at her girlfriend. “Thank you,” she said, bending over and kissing Nico's lips softly.

 

“Kar,” Nico said, grabbing the blonde's hand as she stood back up. “I... I know you don't _need_ protecting. I know you're capable of protecting yourself. Please don't ever think that I'm implying that you can't take care of yourself.”

 

Karolina's smile was so soft, so warm, that Nico reflexively smiled back at the happy blonde. “I know you well enough, Nico Minoru, to know just how kind, and how caring, and how thoughtful you truly are. I know you're not trying to imply that I'm weak.”

 

“Because you're not,” Nico whispered.

 

“No, I'm not.”

 

“You're _so_ fucking strong, Kar.”

 

Karolina ran her fingertips down Nico's left cheek. “And you make me even stronger, Nico. I couldn't do this, have this baby, raise this child, without you right here beside me.”

 

Nico reached up and closed her fingers around Karolina's hand. “I”m not going anywhere, Kar. I'm with you from now on.”

 

“Thank you again,” Karolina said. “For doing this. All of this, not just the shopping.”

 

Nico sighed. She stepped forward; Karolina wrapped her arms around Nico, who turned her head to the side to keep from getting makeup or lipstick on Karolina's dress. It was unusual for Nico to be the one to initiate a hug, especially in public, and Karolina didn't say anything, knowing that Nico probably needed a moment to put her thoughts in order. When her girlfriend was ready to say what she needed to say, she would. Until then, Karolina was more than happy to hold her.

 

“Do you know what scares me, Kar?” Nico asked, her voice just above a whisper.

 

“Not much,” replied Karolina, getting a soft and quiet laugh that she felt in Nico's body more than heard.

 

“I'm scared of letting you down,” the smaller woman said. “I'm scared that one day you're going to wake up, look at me and say, 'What the fuck am I doing, wasting my life with her?' I'm scared that one day you're going to realize that I'm not worth all the hassle of putting up with me. I know—“

 

Karolina pressed her lips to Nico's; she had gently lifted the dark-haired woman's chin while Nico talked. They kissed softly for several long seconds, before Karolina pulled her face back slightly. She gazed into Nico's eyes, a cherry wood brown in the store's lighting.

 

“So, I _totally_ just interrupted you there,” Karolina admitted with a soft grin, taking in Nico's confused but slightly amused expression. “Because I know what you're going to say. Nico, sweetheart, I know you're complicated. So am I. I know you're fucked-up. So am I. I know you feel like you don't deserve me, because _I feel that same way about myself.”_

 

Nico shook her head. “Kar, you're amazing. You're essentially an angel, in real life.”

 

“And so are you! You sacrifice and bear pain to keep others from suffering it themselves. You stand strong when you're afraid, to protect those you love. You face your fears, not run from them, to keep us safe.” She smiled at Nico, then lightly plucked at Nico's shirt before smoothing it back down with a loving pat.

 

“Not all angels wear white, Nico,” Karolina said softly. “And only the _bravest_ ones wear black.”

 

Unable to speak, Nico hugged Karolina again tightly, again turning her head to keep from smearing mascara and makeup on the blonde's dress, because that dress was amazing, and Nico loved how Karolina looked in it.

 

“My angry little goth princess,” Karolina whispered tenderly.

 

Nico paused, but she knew she was going to reply, even with them in public. She sighed. “My starlight,” she spoke softly, managing to not sound too enthusiastic or too resistant.

 

Karolina hugged her even tighter, and Nico felt incredibly secure here in those arms, with their baby pressing against Nico's body as well.

 

Leslie watched the interaction between the two young women with utter fascination, and a hefty amount of maternal pride and happiness. She was amazed that Nico, who was even more guarded than Tina had been, would open herself to Karolina this way. And it was obvious that Nico loved Karolina every bit as much as Karolina loved her.

 

They were going to need that strength, and that love. When Catherine Wilder found and exploited the right weaknesses in the justice system to free herself and her husband, the two of them would be coming for their son, and, by extension, all of the Runaways. And Leslie wasn't entirely sure who in PRIDE would be out for blood and who would be on the side of their children.

 

When Karolina and Nico finally stepped out of their prolonged embrace, shifting to hold hands, Leslie covered the short distance between them.

 

“I didn't want to interrupt,” she told the couple, getting a warm smile from her daughter and the barest hint of a smile from Nico. “Thank you for letting me do this with you today. To spend time with you.”

 

“Well, to be fair, we really don't know shit about what we're gonna need,” Nico said. “We'd like to be prepared.”

 

Leslie smiled. “You'll never be fully prepared. Just accept that now, and it won't sting as bad when life reminds you.”

 

Nico nodded. “Sounds about right,” she said, looking away from Leslie and toward the assortment of fully-assembled playpens making up the center of the current aisle. “We're trying to decide on one of these right now.”

 

“My goodness,” Leslie said, moving to look at the nearest one. “So many to choose from!”

 

“Well, we need one with the little bug net cover that goes over it. One that snaps down.”

 

“It'll come with a sun shade,” Karolina added, “though I don't think that's going to be necessary.”

 

“Still, couldn't hurt to have it,” Nico said, walking down the row of playpens.

 

“Right,” Karolina said, a few steps behind her girlfriend, stopping to press down on the lightly padded floor in one playpen.

 

“I think this one,” Nico said, patting one with carefully padded sides and joints, a solid but still see-through netting on all four sides, a lightly padded base and a detachable mesh screen with sun shade that snapped securely over the top of the playpen. “This net should work.”

 

Karolina laughed, nodding. “The most expensive one. Of course.”

 

Nico gave her a serious look. “It's our child. It's worth spending a little extra to make sure the net's good.”

 

Leslie stepped over. “Why is the net so important? Are you worried about mice at... the Hostel?”

 

Nico gave Leslie an incredulous look. “Uh, no. We're worried about her flying out of her playpen. And her crib. And pretty much everything.”

 

“The index did say that most Majesdanians can't fly until they're older,” Karolina pointed out.

 

Nico wasn't having it. “And if there's a child who's going to break the rules and do whatever she damn well pleases, it'll be ours.”

 

Karolina considered that briefly. “Good point.”

 

—O—

 

“NICO!”

 

At hearing her name practically shouted a few aisles down, Nico started running.

 

“NicoNicoNicoNico!!!”

 

The petite witch literally skidded a centimeter in her boots as she turned down the aisle where she had left Karolina looking at clothes.

 

“KAR!” Nico said, immediately surveying their situation, but there was no one else in the aisle, no drones hovering, no sign of danger, and Karolina seemed perfectly fine, other than being stock still as she was looking at something. “Baby, are you okay?!” Nico asked, hand already in her small bag and gripping the Staff of One.

 

Karolina slowly turned toward Nico, with an odd look on her face.

 

“Kar?” Nico asked, thoroughly confused.

 

Rather than reply verbally, Karolina held up a small onesie. It was solid black, with the phrase _Don't Hug Me_ printed on the front.

 

“It's _perfect_ ,” Karolina said, her voice just above a whisper. She grinned madly.

 

Nico's face was utterly blank with surprise. All she could manage was a soft, “Wow.”

 

“I KNOW!” Karolina exclaimed, giddy.

 

—O—

 

“I'll have a van come pick up the furniture,” Leslie said as she, Karolina and Nico walked out of the Super Baby Mart-Plex, pushing a buggy full of reusable shopping bags. “I'll have them take it to Crater, then you can take it back home.”

 

“Thank you,” Nico said, at the same time Karolina said, “Thanks, Mom!”

 

“Did Gert and Molly not want to join us?” asked Leslie.

 

Karolina tucked a bit of Nico's hair behind her ear. “Molly was still asleep when we left, and Gert and Chase agreed that it would be best for her to not come with us today.”

 

(Left unsaid was exactly how Chase had phrased it: “Sending Gert with her wonky psi powers, you and Karolina to an entire store full of baby stuff, pregnant women and new moms would be a total disaster. She'd tear her birth control implant out of her arm with her fingernails and teeth.”)

 

“Well, any of your friends are always welcome,” Leslie said. “Oh, here comes the van.”

 

As a white Church of Gibborim van turned and drove roughly in their direction, neither Nico nor Karolina seemed to do anything more than watch the van closely. But between them, Nico already had her hand in her bag, gripping the Staff, and Karolina was ready to illuminate and fly Nico and herself to safety.

 

The van came to a gentle stop directly in front of Leslie, who was now standing by the curb, with a faint squeak of the vehicle's suspension shifting. The driver's side door opened, followed by the familiar face of Vaughn Kaye sliding out of the driver's side.

 

“Hello, ma'am,” Vaughn said, waving to Leslie. “This must be important, huh?”

 

“Absolutely, Vaughn,” replied Leslie. “You're the only one I trust with anything regarding Karolina. The store workers will be bringing out some heavy boxes of furniture. I need you to take them to directly to Crater. I'll arrange transportation from there.”

 

Vaughn looked both proud and surprised. “Y-Yes, ma'am!” he said quickly; his attention swiftly pivoted as he spotted a familiar head of blonde hair standing nearby. “Karolina!” he said, his voice adorably excited.

 

“Hi, Vaughn,” Karolina said as she walked over to the nervous young man; she was once again holding Nico's hand.

 

“Hi,” Vaughn said, offering her a smile and awkward wave, then he looked at the other young woman with Karolina. “Nico, right?”

 

“Yeah,” replied the black-haired woman, ignoring the hand he offered for shaking. “Hey, Vaughn. Thanks for taking this stuff to Crater for us.”

 

The young man looked up at the enormous letters of the store's sign above them, studying them for several seconds before looking back down to Nico and Karolina, then back up to the sign's letters once more, then back to the two girls. “Uh... I—“ he began, eyes flitting back and forth between Karolina and Nico. “Wh-who... um...”

 

“Vaughn,” Karolina said, trying not to laugh. “It's me.” She stepped up beside Nico; Nico had reflexively shifted herself in front of Karolina again, which Karolina secretly loved. “Twenty-three weeks now.” She gently, slowly ran her right hand over her significant bump.

 

Vaughn looked like he was about to collapse. “You're—“ he began, only to stop short as he focused on Karolina's abdomen. “Y-You look... _great!”_

 

“Thank you,” Karolina replied. “We're excited. Nervous, but excited.”

 

“We,” he said, as a thoughtful look fell across his face. “Who... is we? Well, If I'm allowed to ask!”

 

“Of course you can ask. It's Nico's baby, too.”

 

If Vaughn had looked confused before, now the expression on his face was comical. He stammered and spluttered as he looked back and forth between the two young women.

 

After nearly a minute, Karolina reached out and gently grasped Vaughn's shoulder. “Vaughn...” she said slowly but clearly.

 

He stopped making noises and focused on Karolina, but still no words came out of his mouth.

 

Karolina smiled, making him smile as well. “Vaughn. I'm gay.”

 

“Y-You are?” he managed to get out.

 

“Yes. And I'm in love with Nico.”

 

“Hi again,” Nico said, flashing him a quick wave and simple smile. She hadn't planned on smiling, but hearing Karolina so directly declare her love for Nico did tend to make the normally dour woman smile.

 

“And,” Karolina said, “we're having a baby together. In about another four months.”

 

W... Wow!” he said, blinked rapidly. “Well, congratulations!” He leaned in to give Karolina a hug, only to meet a small but strong hand placed in the center of his chest, stopping him in place. He looked down to see a disapproving look on Nico's face.

 

“If she wants to give you a hug, that's cool, but you let her initiate it, okay?” Nico said, keeping her voice calm but her gaze intensely focused upon the young man. “That gives the woman control over the situation.”

 

Vaughn looked down at the jet-haired woman and realized just how frightening someone nearly half a meter shorter than him could be. He nodded.

 

“Good boy,” Nico said, withdrawing her hand.

 

“God, Nico,” Karolina said, rolling her eyes. “So protective.” She stepped forward and gave Vaughn a simple, chaste hug.

 

“Of course I'm protective of the two girls I love most,” Nico said, crossing her arms in front of her chest and refusing to back down.

 

Karolina stepped back from Vaughn; she turned and moved right in front of Nico, a playful look on her face.

 

“Don't even think about bending over and picking me up,” Nico said flatly.

 

“Nicooo!” Karolina whined.

 

“Uh uh. You'll strain your back. You're about to start the third trimester, Kar. You don't need to risk hurting yourself.”

 

“But I _like_ picking you up and spinning you around. Don't you like it?”

 

“...I tolerate it.”

 

Karolina gave Nico a fake grumpy face; after nearly a year to practice, she had gotten quite good at capturing much of Nico's displeased expression.

 

“Oh my god, that's not fair,” Nico said, trying not to laugh. “Stop!”

 

Leslie turned away from her daughter and Nico as they started to laugh and jibe with each other. “Thank you for doing this, Vaughn. I know I can trust you.”

 

“Yes, Ms. Dean!” he replied eagerly.

 

“You can leave everything in the van once you get to Crater and take a different van back. Nico and Karolina already have plans to get the furniture back to their... home.”

 

Vaughn nodded.

 

“They're going to have everything at the back of the store, at the heavy item pick-up area. It should be just about ready.”

 

“I'll get right on it, Ms. Dean!”

 

Leslie gave the young man a smile. He truly meant well, and he was always loyal to both her and Karolina.

 

She watched as Vaughn started the van, then slowly backed up, turning around before driving along the side of the large store toward the rear.

 

A shriek made Leslie jump. She turned around to see Karolina's arms around Nico's waist, clutching the smaller woman to her chest as Karolina turned around and around, the small witch's feet and legs lifted behind her from the centrifugal force as Karolina spun her around. It looked like Nico still had her arms crossed, her chest and arms pressed against Karolina's chest as the blonde twirled around and around for several seconds.

 

Leslie's right hand came up to cover her mouth as she smiled and tried not to laugh. It was one of the most adorable sights she had ever seen.

 

Karolina slowed and stopped, setting her girlfriend down. The two of them were both laughing as they swayed unsteadily on their feet, trying to regain their balance.

 

“Dammit, Kar,” Nico swore, but her laughing mitigated the force of her words.

 

“I _love_ that!” said the blonde loudly, clutching her hands protectively over the baby bump.

 

“You're going to hurt your back!”

 

“Sweetheart,” Karolina said, reaching out for Nico's face but missing by a few centimeters thanks to her balance being askew. “You're pretty light. And I'm stronger than I look.”

 

“You are,” Nico admitted.

 

“And I'm tough.”

 

“You're that, too.”

 

“And I love doing that.”

 

“I know you do. And I love seeing you happy. And seeing you smile.” Nico looked like she was about to say something else, but she paused momentarily.

 

That little hesitation was immediately noticed by her girlfriend. “You okay, hon? Are you about to throw up?” asked Karolina, her mirth instantly replaced with concern.

 

Nico visibly took a deep breath, holding it in as she clearly considered something for a few seconds, then quietly blowing it out. She looked up to Karolina.

 

“I want to do it,” she said quietly.

 

Karolina looked confused for a second or two, then her face went from surprised to happy to ecstatic in about the same amount of time. “Ohmigod! Are you SERIOUS?!” she said loudly, literally jumping in place once.

 

Nico nodded and smiled. “Yeah. I am. I don't care how fucking 'old-fashioned and patriarchal' it is. Gert can get over it. I want to do this with you.”

 

Karolina clapped her hands, then clenched them to her chest. “Oh God, Nico, thank you!!” she said, bending over and clutching her girlfriend to her chest.

 

Nico was feeling Karolina's stronger-than-she-looked grip very intimately at the moment. “Kar, baby... don't crush my ribs, okay?”

 

“Shit, sorry,” Karolina said, releasing Nico so quickly that the witch dropped a centimeter back to the ground.

 

Nico kept looking up at Karolina, whose bright blue eyes were beginning to water and her smile stretched across her face.

 

Leslie started walking over toward the two young women as she watched the strange body language and movements unfold, but she froze when Nico dropped to one stocking-clad knee on the concrete.

 

“Karolina Dean,” Nico said carefully, “I love you and want to marry you, if you'll have me. I don't have a ring—“

 

She was cut off by Karolina flashing into bright colors for a split-second as she grabbed Nico and bodily lifted her off the ground, kissing her deeply. Nico's hands came up to grab the sides of Karolina's head as she pressed her mouth into the kiss, letting her feet dangle above the ground for several seconds, until the blonde set her back down.

 

“I don't need a ring, Nico,” Karolina said, happy tears running down her face. “All I've ever needed was you.”

 

“Same,” Nico said, her own eyes starting to water. “I want to officially be your wife, Kar, and I want you to be mine.”

 

Karolina nodded vigorously. “I-I want that, too.”

 

“So that's a yes?”

 

“Oh God, Nico! Of course it's a yes! When do you want to get married?!”

 

Nico smiled. “Now.”

 

That made Karolina blink. “Now?”

 

The dark-haired witch nodded, her smile stretching into a grin. “Now. Your mom can marry us, right?”

 

“Did you just _propose?!”_ Leslie said, a bit breathlessly, as she reached the other two women. Her eyes slid back and forth between Nico, who was gazing up at Karolina and grinning, and her daughter, who looked joyous.

 

“Yeah,” replied Nico, not taking her eyes off of Karolina's. “She said yes.”

 

“No shit,” Karolina said, sounding remarkably like Nico. “Why now?”

 

“Why wait? Who else do you want to be there?”

 

“Well, the rest of our family.”

 

“I'll send Gert a text and tell her to get everybody else to Crater. They can be there in twenty minutes. Who else do you want to be there?”

 

Karolina blinked. “M-My mom.”

 

Nico looked at Leslie, then back at Karolina. “Got that one covered. Who else?”

 

“That's... That's it.”

 

Nico stayed quiet, simply smiling knowingly at the blonde.

 

“God, you're so smug when you're right,” said Karolina, too happy to even act mad.

 

Nico pulled her burner phone out of her bag. “I'll text Gert right now,” she said, scrolling down until she reached the contact labeled SJW.

 

—O—

 

Gert was giving Old Lace a bath in her tub when her phone chirped. She dropped the long-handled scrubber into the warm, soapy water, ignoring Lace's puppy eyes, and dried her hands before picking up her phone and checking it, curious when she saw WitchBitch (Nico's contact name) come up on the notification list.

 

 **WitchBitch:** hey

 

 **SJW:** hey

 

 **WitchBitch:** what are you doing

 

 **SJW:** Giving Old Lace a bath.

 

 **WitchBitch:** interesting. you think you could wrap it up and come to something in like half an hour?

 

 **SJW:** Hmmm. How do I know this is nico?

 

 **WitchBitch:** gert

 

 **SJW:** I'm not walking into some trap. This might be nico, and it might not.

 

 **WitchBitch:** fuck off gert.

 

 **SJW:** That SOUNDS like nico, but I'm not convinced.

 

 **WitchBitch:** this is serious

 

 **SJW:** and so am I. Safe phrase, please.

 

 **WitchBitch:** gerrrrttttt

 

 **SJW:** ? Waiting.

 

 **WitchBitch:** GERT. JFC.

 

 **SJW:** That is not Nico's safe phrase.

 

 **WitchBitch:** karolina just asked me why I screamed FUCK very loudly and made everyone around us look. Is that convincing enough?

 

 **SJW:** nope

 

 **WitchBitch:** (Image Loading)

 

 **WitchBitch:** (Image Sent)

 

 **SJW:** Someone could have photoshopped Nico's and Karolina's faces onto those two girls flipping me off. Not buying it.

 

 **SJW:** safe phrase, please.

 

 **WitchBitch:** you suck gert

 

 **WitchBitch:** ...

 

 **WitchBitch:** fine

 

 **WitchBitch:** i am a pretty pink princess

 

 **WitchBitch:** satisfied? fuck

 

 **SJW:** hi nico

 

 **SJW:** screenshotted that, btw

 

 **WitchBitch:** I fucking hate you

 

 **SJW:** sticks and stones

 

 **WitchBitch:** but the staff and i can kill you

 

 **SJW:** :-[

 

 **SJW:** point. So what's the big deal that I have to get lace out of the tub?

 

 **WitchBitch:** kar and i are getting married

 

 **SJW:** WTF Nico!

 

 **WitchBitch:** =)

 

 **SJW:** I thought the two of you were better than societal expectations! You don't need validation from an oppressive religious authority or a corrupt state that refuse

 

 **SJW:** s to extend even the most basic freedoms and decencies to migrant children! You two are perfect like you are! Why the FUCK are you bowing to the patriarchal e

 

 **SJW:** xpectations of marriage?!?

 

 **WitchBitch:** LISTEN GODDAMMIT GERT YOU MADE ME TYPE MY FUCKING SAFE PHRASE SO YOU ARE SURE AF FUCK GOING TO COME TO MY WEDDING DO YOU HEAR ME????

 

 **WitchBitch:** and kar says she'd really like you and rest of the fam to be there, or she'll be sad

 

 **SJW:** You cheat.

 

 **WitchBitch:** damn right

 

 **SJW:** Fine. Where are we taking everyone?

 

—O—

 

“Okay, Gert's making them all get ready,” Nico said, dropping her phone back in her leather bag. She looked up to see Karolina smiling, her arm around Leslie. Leslie had both her arms around Karolina, smiling, every bit the proud mother.

 

Part of Nico wished she could have that with her mother. Even more of her wished Amy could be here. But all of her knew that neither of those could happen.

 

She was okay with that. It hurt, but she'd survive. She had Karolina, and Karolina was beaming.

 

Goddess, that made everything better.

 

Nico returned her attention to where Karolina was waving her over, using her free hand. With a theatrical sigh, Nico slowly walked over, letting Karolina pull her into the hug. When Leslie moved her arm and put it around Nico, the witch felt herself tense out of reflex; she made herself relax, focusing on Karolina's touch.

 

“You have made my daughter happier than I've ever seen her, Nico,” Leslie said softly. “And I know you'll protect her and be good to her.”

 

Nico nodded, being careful not to crack heads with anyone. “Absolutely,” she said. “I'd do anything for her.”

 

“Hang onto that,” Leslie said, her voice tight with emotion. “This world beats you down. It tries to make you give up what you hold sacred, what you care about, and you have to fight to keep it from corrupting everything you think you believe. Fight for my daughter, Nico. Please.”

 

Nico blinked against the unexpected and slightly unwelcome swell of emotion inside her from Leslie's words. “I... I will.” She looked up at Karolina, her face serious to the blonde's tender. “I _always_ will.”

 

“How are we going to get to Crater, Nico?” Karolina said. Leslie released them from her hug, stepping back a bit, but Nico and Karolina remained in close contact. “Traffic's going to be horrible in the afternoon. You told them thirty minutes, which they'll make, considering they're already out of the city, but it's going to take us at least an hour.”

 

Nico grinned. “No, it won't.”

 

Karolina shook her head. “I, I'm not sure I can carry you both! And I don't want to risk it!”

 

“You won't have to carry us both, just your mom.” Nico pulled the Staff out of her bag; a thought, and it sprang to its full length.

 

“Here?!”

 

Nico nodded, still grinning. “You can fly fast, can't you?” she asked, a daring look on her face, then she turned and ran around the corner of the store, down the side of the building toward the back.

 

“God, Nico,” Karolina groaned, but she was smiling as she took her mother's hand and pulled Leslie into a slow run.

 

“Karolina!” Leslie yelped as she tried to keep up with her daughter as they pelted along the side of the store, quickly going out of sight of most of the parking lot.

 

Nico gripped the Staff as they neared the rear of the store. _“Fly like a falcon!”_ she called out, relishing the surge of power from the Staff's ebony shaft.

 

Leslie watched at Nico shot away from the ground, the Staff held beside her. Then brilliant colors bloomed to life beside her, and Karolina was flying, turning around to scoop Leslie up into her arms, then twisting again as the two of them rose swiftly into the sky, chasing Nico.

Leslie felt her stomach drop into her legs as the buildings and cars fell away from around them. “K-Karolina!” she choked out.

 

“Just close your eyes for the first few seconds, Mom,” the blonde said, smiling. “That disorientation is the worst.”

 

Obediently, Leslie did as her daughter said, but she still felt the hiss of wind across her head, and she had to tilt her head slightly to keep the wind out of her face and ear. There was a subtle warmth, and the pressure of the wind on her head lessened.

 

“Sorry, I forgot to form that energy field to keep the wind off you. I do it kind of without thinking when I'm carrying Nico. I'm not used to her flying by herself, and I guess I, um, got distracted watching her and forgot to shield you.”

 

Leslie looked at her smiling daughter, whose eyes were still fixed straight ahead. The redhead turned to look ahead of them. A few car lengths away, she saw Nico soaring herself, arms down at her sides, Staff held beside her.

 

“I'm so glad for you,” Leslie said to Karolina; her daughter turned to look at Leslie.

 

“Thanks, Mom,” Karolina said, so many emotions visible on her face: relief, joy, gratitude, peace. “She lets me be who I am. I don't have to pretend, or put myself down, or humor her. I can be honest with her, even when we disagree, because she's going to be honest with me.”

 

“Hopefully she's different than Tina,” Leslie said, and Karolina was so focused on Nico flying that she missed the underlayer in her mother's statement.

 

“She's totally different than Tina. Nico's blunt and to-the-point, but not in a cruel way like Tina. And Nico _loves_ , oh my god, she LOVES. She acts like she doesn't have a heart sometimes, but she might have the biggest, most loving heart of all of us. She just hides it most of the time, to protect herself from being hurt. Tina just _doesn't_ have a heart. If she ever showed concern for anything, it was because she didn't want anyone else to have it.”

 

“She wasn't always like that,” Leslie said quietly. “But she certainly has been for as long as you can remember. Ever since...” Leslie tried to make her voice calm and neutral, but she wasn't sure how good a job she mananged. “Ever since I was pregnant with you.”

 

Leslie felt them start to angle downward. She dared to look ahead and down, seeing mostly the ochre and tan of rock and desert, but far ahead, manmade straight lines of buildings and fences carved out of the natural curves and slopes indicated they were approaching something. “Is that Crater?” she asked.

 

“Looks like it. I guess Nico's using the Staff to steer us in the right direction.”

 

Leslie considered whether it was her place to voice what she was thinking. But it concerned her daughter, so it was worth the risk. “Does Nico ever seem... strange? Since she took possession of the Staff?”

 

Karolina thought about Nico standing first among their family in the face of gunfire, trusting the Staff to shield them. She saw Nico's eyes shift as a black and purple coloration formed around them, right before Nico rose from unconsciousness or injury to unleash a powerful spell to save them all. She thought about Nico standing in the face of reality shredding, becoming a human lightning rod against violent magic powerful enough to level dozens of trained sorcerers.

 

She thought of Nico throwing herself into certain death, embracing the stuff of darkness and challenging an elder god.

 

And winning.

 

She though of Nico burnt, battered, not breathing as Karolina held her in her lap, crying and pleading for the woman she loved to draw just one more breath, to open her lids and gaze at her with those beautiful mahogany eyes one more time.

 

“I think...” Karolina said, and what she was thinking both thrilled and terrified her. “I think she's... who she was always meant to be.”

 

Leslie watched the unspoken emotions flow across her daughter's expressive face.

 

“Part of it scares me,” Karolina said softly. “The things she can do, the risks she'll take... But I know it's part of her. She's going to risk everything to keep me safe, to keep the baby safe. To keep our family safe. That's who Nico is. The Staff just makes it so much... _more_.”

 

Leslie scrutinized her daughter's face carefully. “She doesn't seem more cruel? More harsh, or unforgiving?”

 

The blonde smiled back at her mother. “Nico's always had that hard part in her, because of her bitch of a mother. But that isn't all of Nico, just the part she shows to the rest of the world. The Staff hasn't made her cruel or unfeeling.”

 

“Watch out for that,” said Leslie. “Because I've watched Tina grow more cold and cruel over the years I've known her. I don't want that to happen to Nico, or to you.”

 

“Whatever relationship Tina had with the Staff, Nico's not her mother, and she never will be. Not with the Staff, and not as a parent.”

 

Leslie didn't say anything else. Instead, she hoped with whatever grace she might still possess that her daughter was right.

 

—O—

 

Crater was the code name for the Church of Gibborim's most remote, most secure facility. Miles away from the nearest non-church residence or business, Crater had been where Gibborim sent people or things that needed to disappear.

 

That was slowly changing.

 

After Leslie and Karolina had both had a taste of Crater's punishments, Leslie, once again the church's head, had started making changes. The facility remained tightly secured, protected by the best cameras, sensors, motion detectors, and monitoring software that Wizard produced. But the plywood punishment rooms had been torn down, replaced with comfortable meditation rooms and studios for yoga and tai chi. The all-white rooms of reflection had been modified with microphones and speakers to allow someone in the room to speak with a therapist as part of the new reconditioning protocol. The dehumanizing tradition of stripping new residents of their names had been banned forever. A new mental hospital was being constructed, designed to handle up to sixty legitimate residential psychiatric patients, free of charge for church members.

 

Leslie smiled as she considered the changes Crater had seen over the last eight months. She had administered a religious scam for so long that it actually started to become a true faith for several thousand believers, and now she found herself trying to legitimately help others without a sinister hidden agenda. Or human sacrifice.

 

It didn't absolve Leslie of what she had done. She knew that. But she could at least turn this church into both a force for good and a resource for her daughter... and her daughter's family.

 

What Karolina did with it, when that time came, would be for her to decide.

 

—O—

 

Susan Ellerh had not lived the easiest life. She had gone from a teenage mother to a high school dropout, from a runaway to a hippie commune, from a peyote- and drug-induced haze to a semblance of respectability as the wife of David Ellerh, from a position of wealth and power to a prisoner stripped of even her name, locked away to be forgotten forever.

 

Until her granddaughter came to shine her holy light into the dark shadows of Crater, exposing the cruel truth.

 

In a matter of hours, she had gone from S4E2R, irredeemable sinner, to Susan Ellerh, a mother and grandmother, the _de facto_ leader of this facility. It had truly been a miracle.

 

And now Susan Ellerh watched as that same miracle descended from the sky once more, and not alone this time.

 

Others in the main courtyard were now looking up, shading their eyes from the afternoon sun as they watched the glowing lights of their messiah draw nearer and nearer. Whispers became murmurs, and Susan could hear rising voices and running footsteps behind her, though she never turned away from the angelic sight in the sky above.

 

Accompanying the glowing colors of Karolina was another flying girl, this one as dark as Karolina was light. Susan remembered her as one of those prepared to storm Crater to rescue Leslie and Karolina, although she was dressed much more acceptably that evening. Now she looked fearsome, intimidating, perhaps even ominous as she touched down the same time as Karolina, both of them settling onto the concrete walkway. With them was Leslie, carried by Karolina; as soon as they were on the ground, Karolina eased her mother down to her feet. Leslie smoothly walked away as the girl in dark approached Karolina.

 

And then the girl in black and Karolina kissed. Not a polite peck, either. A full, deep kiss, and Karolina's arms wrapped around the other girl's neck, resting on the smaller girl's shoulders, and the dark-haired girl embraced Karolina, pulling the two of them together until the kiss was finished, several seconds later. The two of them stepped apart, eyes still locked on each other and looks of joy evident on the face of both girls. And...

 

Oh dear.

 

When Karolina's luminous colors faded back to tan skin and blonde hair, it was even more obvious. Her granddaughter was pregnant.

 

Susan couldn't help but think this was her fault. She had started the cycle, being foolish and getting pregnant at sixteen. Leslie had been seduced by the false prophet Jonah when she was not much older, and she had been stringent about Karolina not continuing the cycle of teen pregnancy.

 

But have much control do parents truly have over their teenage children?

 

Not as much as they expect, or want.

 

“Hello, Mother.”

 

Susan smiled reflexively as being addressed, and so ingrained was her reaction that it took her a full two seconds to wipe away the mask of a placid smile that she had worn for so many years, replacing with an honest expression of welcome. “Hello, Leslie,” she said, pleased that the motherly feelings buried for so long still found their way out of their prison.

 

“Karolina has a request.”

 

As Leslie spoke, the two girls stopped directly in front of Susan, next to Leslie.

 

“Nico,” Karolina said softly, “This is my grandmother, Susan Ellerh.”

 

“Hello,” said the dark angel, and even seeing Karolina standing beside her, holding this girl's hand, Susan still felt a sense of trepidation at the girl's attire and appearance, so anathema to every thing the Church taught about seeking the light within.

 

“Gramma,” Karolina said, her mouth pausing to silently test the word after saying it, as if she had never spoken it before, “This is Nico Minoru... the woman I love, and the other parent to my baby.”

 

Before Susan could process those startling words, Karolina had another statement that sent the older woman's thoughts reeling.

 

“We're here to get married.”

 

—O—

 

Things went very quickly. Less than ten minutes after the trio arrived from the heavens, the courtyard was nearly full, the entire facility emptied to allow everyone to see their messiah, her companion and their impending child.

 

The gates had been opened and left that way, and the lack of security guards allowed the dark green RV to drive directly onto the facility's grounds without delay.

 

“Well, this isn't creepy at all,” Gert said as she stepped down out of the large recreational vehicle. The rest of the Runaways exited the vehicle, Alex from the passenger door, Chase from the driver's, Molly and Old Lace leaving through the large cargo door in the rear of the vehicle. They stopped as they surveyed the gathered crowd of close to two hundred, dressed in yellow scrubs or blue shirts and khakis, all standing in rapt silence as a small group huddled across the courtyard.

 

“This is where you guys had to break Karolina out?” asked Chase.

 

“Yeah,” Molly said. “It was crazy, like full-on lockdown. Totally different today.”

 

Old Lace stood tall and sniffed the air, noting the familiar scents of two of her pack ahead. She turned to her human. _Do others need res-cue?_

 

 _Not right now_ , replied her bond-human. _But remain alert for trouble._

 

Lace was patient. It was so much nicer since bond-human learned to think to Lace.

 

“Gert, are you gonna be okay around all these people?” asked Chase, hesitant to let his girlfriend risk her sanity in this crowd.

 

Gert nodded. “Their minds are scary quiet. What thoughts they're broadcasting are all the same—awe and devotion, but simple and earnest, not overwhelming. It's like their thoughts are being suppressed somehow. Goes to show you that religion really does rot your mind.”

 

Molly snickered, getting a smile from her sister.

 

“GUYS!” shouted Karolina from across the crowd.

 

As Alex, Chase, Molly, Gert and Lace looked across the crowd, they saw Karolina illuminate and quickly rise a few meters off the ground.

 

“Come on! We're waiting on you!” said the glowing woman, waving them forward before descending back to the ground.

 

Leslie was giving directions to the staff member who had been pressed into service as the on-site photographer. The church's official photographer had run into traffic and had notified Leslie that he and his assistant were on their way, but with a significant delay. As such, Susan had called upon one of the staffers who was a skilled photographer, and the young woman had been eager to serve.

 

“Are we ready?” Karolina asked, growing adorably impatient (at least to Nico).

 

“Do you two have dresses?”

 

Karolina looked at her mother. “No, we're good,” she said, making herself smile. “All I need is Nico.”

 

Leslie nodded.

 

“Actually...” Nico said, stepping toward Karolina and taking her bride's hands. “I want this day to be special.”

 

“It is,” Karolina said, nodding. “It's all I want, already.”

 

“I know,” Nico said patiently. And she knew it was true. “But you deserve more. You deserve to look as amazing as you truly are.”

 

Nico moved the Staff of One between them.

 

“Think about what you want in your wedding dress, Kar. When you're ready, tell me.”

 

Karolina gently ran her fingers along the smooth ebony wood of the Staff before grasping it, her index finger draped across Nico's hand. She smiled at Nico, then closed her eyes for several seconds.

 

“Ready,” she said softly, tightening her grip on the Staff with one hand and Nico's hand with the other.

 

Nico closed her own eyes. _“Wedding dresses!”_ she said firmly.

 

The Staff flashed, a brilliant burst of light leaving afterimages of varied colors dancing across the eyes of everyone who hadn't blinked quickly enough.

 

Nico opened her eyes, and gasped.

 

Karolina was resplendent, her blonde hair pulled up and back but falling down behind her, curls accented with white lace ribbons tied into bows throughout the length of her golden hair. Her dress was a gleaming white two-piece, surprising Nico, with the crop top hanging from slender simple straps across Karolina's shoulders. Lace detailing ran and flowed all around the short top. The skirt was sheer white tulle and silk, falling smoothly to just below Karolina's knees. The beaded and lace top of the skirt encircled Karolina's hips, falling low enough to emphasize, not conceal, the swell of her abdomen and the child she was carrying.  White short-heeled sandals finished the look, the blonde's beautiful legs left bare below the edge of the sheer skirt.

 

Nico was stunned at the sight before her. Leave it to Karolina to _show off_ that she was a pregnant bride. And she was utterly breathtaking in her beauty.

 

Karolina's blue eyes went wide at the sight that greeted her, for Nico had absolutely matched her as well as opposed her.

 

Nico's dress was a black so deep and uniform that it was hard to discern any details. Her jet hair rose up, flaring as it parted into two long braids, one falling to hang behind each shoulder. A flared black strap rose up over Nico's left shoulder alone; this close, Karolina could see the intricate detail of vines and thorns both embroidered onto the black silk as well as rising up out of the fabric in places across the strap and around the top. A black choker wrapped around Nico's throat, made of the same deep ebon material as the rest of the gown, accentuated by a simple pentacle that seemed to be made of both gold and silver, the colors flowing almost interchangeably through the symbol. The dress's upper edge was irregular, not straight, seeming to creep up Nico's bare chest in places as it flowed around the petite witch's torso, falling low enough to expose clavicles, sternum and the barest amount of Nico's modest but perfect (as far as Karolina was concerned) bust. Long black gloves covered Nico's hands and most of her arms, flowing halfway up her upper arms before revealing her skin once more. The skirt was long and swirling, falling in asymmetric layers of different materials and patterns, some sheer, others patterned lace, ending in a tattered hem that rose and fell to different heights around Nico's lower legs as it wrapped around her legs. Glossy black leather ankle boots provided the only shine in Nico's outfit, four black straps with silver buckles on the outside of each boot.

 

“Oh, Nico,” Karolina breathed out, stunned at how her girlfriend had taken basic black and turned it into something transcendent. But really, she shouldn't be stunned. That's what Nico did every day.

 

As the two brides both tried to restart their brains, Leslie took a moment to appreciate the contrast between the two young women. There was no sharper edge than that between white and black, no keener contrast. But it was that collision of opposites that produced the most potential, the most impact, the most energy, and the power of that energy was palpable at that moment.

 

Since neither of them could speak, Karolina held out a hand for Nico to take, which the smaller woman did, grinning. The surge of emotion caused Karolina to bloom into pink and blue light; she started to turn it off, but Nico squeezed her hand.

 

“I want you to shine today,” she said to the taller woman. “I don't want you to have to hide.”

 

“It's not hiding,” Karolina said. “I'm still me, whether I'm glowing or not.”

 

“And I love you both ways,” Nico said, kissing Karolina's hand. “It's your wedding day. You should be however you want to be.”

 

Karolina smiled widely. “I'll turn it off so I don't blind Mom. But I'll leave it like this for a bit.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“Thank you for loving me. All of me.”

 

“Of course. I mean, you love all of _me_ , and I can be a real bitch.”

 

The look on Karolina's face turned playful. “You say that like it's a bad thing,” she said, drawing a laugh from Nico. “For you, I just consider it a feature.”

 

“Good, because I have a lot of features.”

 

Karolina bent down and kissed Nico's nose. “And I love them all. Even if I don't always act like it.”

 

“That's fair,” Nico admitted. “C'mon. Your mom's waiting.”

 

They turned together and walked the few steps forward to where Leslie stood, in the footprint of the large mountains looming near Crater. There was no arch, no altar, only an officiant, two brides, their family and a few hundred devoted followers.

 

“This will likely be the shortest wedding ever conducted by this church,” Leslie said, trying not to laugh at the obvious impatience and nervous energy exhibited by the two brides. Karolina stood on Nico's left, Nico's on Karolina's right; Karolina's right hand clasped Nico's left, and each of them had lifted their joined hands up to place their free hands atop the joined ones. They stood, shivering in the California heat, holding tightly to each other.

 

Leslie took a moment to compose herself and order her thoughts. “This day, the summer solstice, is our holiest day. It is the longest day, when the light is at its zenith. However, today we celebrate not only the light, but also the dark.”

 

“Karolina Dean,” Leslie said, looking at her daughter and fighting back tears at the glistening, earnest eyes of her daughter fixed directly on her. “You are the light not only of this church but of my heart as well. You bring a joy, a lightness, a sense of brilliant purity to everything you touch. You are an angel of light, a beacon to guide others to how a life should be lived.”

 

“Nico Minoru,” Leslie said, turning to the woman who had won her daughter's heart. “You are the darkness to my daughter's light. You bring challenge, strength, courage with your love, just as pure and burning as Karolina's. You bring us shadow to our light, solitude from the crowd, peace in the tumult, relief from the burning of the light. You are an angel of darkness, the sword and staff to protect others from those who would do them harm.”

 

Leslie looked between the two brides to the crowd assembled. “The Church preaches in the light within us. But not everything light is good, as proven by the False Prophet. And nothing everything dark is evil, as proven by the love of these two women standing before me.”

 

“Do the two of you have anything to say to each other?” asked Leslie.

 

Karolina nodded, turning to Nico. “Nico Minoru, I've loved you since I was a child. I'm ashamed that I let fear take so many possible years we could have had together, but I'm so, so happy that when a terrified girl finally found the courage to kiss her secret crush, you kissed back. I don't have much to offer you beyond myself, but I give you that freely. I will always be there for you, and I will always be the light in your darkness. And when the world forces us apart, I will _always_ come back to you.”

 

Nico blinked away tears; she wasn't going to untangle her hands from Karolina's, no matter what. “You have nothing to be ashamed of, Karolina Dean, not ever. You are the most honest person I know, and seeing you able to finally, fully be yourself is the most incredible, beautiful thing I have _ever_ seen. I can't put into words how amazing you are, and I'm just this angry, hurt girl who was always second-best, never good enough for anyone—until you. I'm not perfect, but I don't have to be for you, and I can never thank you enough for that. I understand that darkness is part of me, but I _swear_ to you that I will always be faithful, I will always respect you and I will always protect you. And when your eyes start to hurt from bringing light to so many others, I will be the darkness to hide you, soothe you and keep you safe.”

 

Leslie watched as her daughter and Nico began to drift closer together, as if they were unable to resist the gravitational pull of each other. “As the head of the Church of Gibborim and by the laws of the state of California, I hereby pronounce you, Karolina Dean, and you, Nico Minoru, to be legally married, wife and wife, light and darkness, forever more.”

 

There was no hesitation as Karolina leaned over, her hands grasping Nico's face while Nico stood on the toes of her boots, reaching around Karolina's chest and beneath her arms to grip the back of the blonde's shoulders and pull herself up a bit more.

 

All present were so focused on the ceremony that none of them noticed two people approaching through the open gates, a man and a woman.

 

Robert and Tina Minoru.

 

—O—

 

Nico was so caught up in kissing her new wife that she very nearly missed the telltale sensation of prickles of ice slithering their way down the back of her neck.

 

She had practiced forming mystic shields for a week straight last month, moving her fingers just right, positioning her hands at the right wrist angle, while listening to the radio, while talking to Karolina, while playing games with the others, while eating dinner (until she knocked over a crock of steamed rice). She had done it repeatedly, over and over and over, until she could instantly form the shields with either or both hands, without thinking.

 

She did that now, even before the conscious part of her brain could interpret the icy prickles as the evidence of magic trying to affect her mind. Her hands were already behind Karolina's back and pointing upward as she held the blonde, so when her fingers slid into the positions to activate her basic mystic shields, the glowing green runes sprang into existence over her and Karolina both, shielding them from the gently descending effects of the sleep spell.

 

“Did you teach her how to do that?” Robert asked his wife, still holding the now-dormant enchanted staff he had used to cast the mass sleep spell.

 

Tina gave him a condescending look. “Of course not. She wouldn't listen to me long enough to learn anything about magic. Someone else taught her that.”

 

“Mordo?”

 

Tina considered. “Possibly. We need to move.” She pulled the neural scrambler attuned to Nico's brainwaves out of the bag beside her, then she started to run toward the green glow of Nico's shield.

 

As he did the same, moving out farther to his left, Robert reached into the shoulder bag he was carrying, searching for the small devices he needed.

 

“What... what happened?” asked Karolina, seeing her mother unconscious on the ground in front of them.

 

Nico turned to look behind them. “My parents, apparently,” she said.

 

Karolina turned to see Tina running toward them. She looked at Nico. “Please tell me I can burn her retinas out of her skull.”

 

Nico shrugged. “Fine by me.”

 

Karolina whirled, a savage grin on her face. She threw her arms out in front of her, unleashing a shining bolt of pink, blue and white energy that cut through the air.

 

Tina threw herself to the ground in a roll, dodging the blast, but it still came close enough that it scorched part of her blouse; she felt the heat across her left upper arm register as she was back on her feet, pressing the trigger on the scrambler as she ran.

 

Karolina felt the light well up in her again, but before she could release another pulse of energy, a flash of red light caught her eye, followed by a excruciating sensation like being electrocuted while her stomach was being pulled up into her throat.

 

She had felt this before, when Jonah/Victor had trapped her, but this felt even more painful, and she fell to a knee as the pain tore through her.

 

Nico reached out for her Staff, which flew into her hand. She started to speak, but her words were cut off by Karolina gasping in pain. Nico turned to see Karolina crouching on the ground, surrounded by a laser lattice of crimson light being projected by a half-dozen tiny devices scattered on the ground around them.

 

She looked up to see her father watching her, his empty right hand slowly returning to his side.

 

He was the one who had hurt Karolina.

 

Nico brandished the Staff toward him. “Buffle king potato!”

 

Nothing happened.

 

“Ah, flip owl buzzer,” she said, turning to see her mother now just ten meters away, pointing _another_ one of those damn brain scramblers at her. “Danish branch.”

 

Well, magic or not, the Staff had a shaft made of ebony wood strengthened by decades of magic flowing through it. She stepped over toward a writhing Karolina; swiftly Nico brought the wooden end of the Staff down on the nearest micro-emitter, smashing it with a satisfying squeal and crunch.

 

The energy field flickered but remained active. Nico moved to smash the next closest transmitter, but before she could get there it felt like someone was shoving hot knives into her skull. She cried out as she dropped on to her knees on the concrete, one hand clutching her head, the other gripping the Staff for dear life.

 

“I decided to use the higher settings this time,” Tina said, moving closer. “I imagine it doesn't feel good, does it?”

 

Nico tried to look up, but all she could see through the slits of her barely-opened eyes was the crimson glow of the field holding Karolina, now rolling on the ground, in obvious pain as well.

 

The stabbing, burning agony in Nico's head was just pain. That was all. She couldn't speak or concentrate, but she could move. Nico pushed herself forward, toward the red light, toward the screams of pain from the woman she loved.

 

“You don't even have to give _me_ the Staff, Nico!” Tina said loudly. “Or even help me! I can train your daughter! Teach her the truth of the Minoru legacy, to carry on our traditions!”

 

Nico didn't waste effort on garbled words. She simply pushed, focusing on the blurry but bright red haze just a meter away, taking her pain and letting it fuel her anger, her determination.

 

“I'll let you and Karolina both live,” Tina continued. “I know she's... _special_ to you.”

 

More special than your twisted, megalomaniac brain could comprehend, Nico thought as she threw herself the last of the distance between her and Karolina, into the energy field with her new wife.

 

The impact against her arm and side knocked Karolina over, startling her out of her agony. Her left hand clutched at what had struck her, feeling silky fabric, small but taut muscles in the arm beneath that fabric, then moving to grasp something smooth, hard and hissing with power.

 

Karolina's eyes shot open.

 

The Staff.

 

“ _FREEDOM!”_ she screamed, clenching the Staff with all the strength she could muster.

 

Pops sounded all around her, along with a larger explosion nearby. She felt small stings on her back and one arm, but she could feel something other than searing agony again.

 

She climbed to her feet, glowing with colorful light. She stepped over Nico, shielding her girlfriend—her _wife_ —with her body, as she unleashed streams of light at both Tina and Robert, one arm aiming for each. The two Minorus dodged and rolled out of the way, and Robert came up with a gun of some sort.

 

Karolina shifted her light into an energy field around her and Nico, in time to block the chemical darts he was firing at her. When she realized what he was trying to do, to erase part of her and Nico's memories, she felt fury boil up inside her.

 

He was trying to take away their feelings for each other, the time they had spent with each other. He was trying to _erase_ their love, along with their memories.

 

That wasn't happening.

 

She had seen Jonah blast downward with his energy, creating a shockwave that could knock people off their feet, but if she did that here, she'd likely injure multiple unconscious church members. For the moment, she decided to continue to maintain her field long enough for Nico to regain her senses, but she kept shifting her attention back and forth between Robert and Tina, in case they had brought any other surprises.

 

“Shit,” Nico swore behind Karolina, using the blonde's left leg to pull herself to her feet again.

 

“You know, it's a shame,” the blonde said, continuing to shift her gaze back and forth between her new in-laws as she felt Nico's hands grasp their way up her bare leg. “I had this perfect line about what you could do while you were down there between my legs that I've been saving for a week, and then your parents have to be such assholes that I forgot to use it.”

 

Nico nodded. “Sounds like them, alright.” She looked, smiling slightly when she saw Tina rubbing at her hands, black scorch marks on them, and a smoking pile of electronic parts at her feet. “Nice job with the Staff.”

 

“Thanks! Nice job thinking of that.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

“Can I kill your parents now? Oh, and I don't mean that in a get-back-at-you-for-Jonah kind of thing, either. I'm past that. I just really want to kill your parents right now on their own merits.”

 

Nico's free right hand settled on Karolina's left shoulder. “I don't want you carrying that on your conscience, Kar.”

 

“I... I don't mind.”

 

Nico placed a soft kiss to Karolina's pink and yellow cheek. “But I do.”

 

Holding the Staff in front of her with her left hand, Nico faced her mother. “You know, Mom, most people who don't get invited to weddings can take a hint!” she called out.

 

At the same time, Karolina watched Robert Minoru closely. When she saw him shift his attention to reload the dart gun, she shot a blast of light through her field, striking him in the chest and sending the gun clattering away. It was then a simple matter to encase the gun in a light field, then implode it, leaving only dust and ash behind.

 

“If you have any more of those fucking darts, drop them NOW!” Karolina screamed at Robert. “I'm going to disintegrate them all, and I'm only giving you _one chance_ to get rid of them first!”

 

The thought of their parents trying to take away her memories of Nico, of their first kiss, of them making love, of those lazy mornings together and them sharing the news of Karolina's pregnancy...

 

This was the thing nightmares were made of, for Karolina, and she knew Nico would feel the same way.

 

“That's all of them!”

 

She looked up to see a case and two loose darts containing a blue liquid on the ground in front of Robert. Without a word, she enclosed the case and darts in a light field, then incinerated them.

 

She met and held the older man's angry gaze, the field still shimmering between them. “Trying to take away my memories of your daughter and what we have is _despicable_ ,” she said hotly.

 

“Those memories aren't all good ones, I'm sure,” replied her father-in-law.

 

“Of course not, but most of them are. And you have _no right_ to try to take that away from us, the good or the bad!” She frowned at the man before adding, “Oh! Don't expect me to call you _Dad_.”

 

Behind her, Nico and her mother continued to face off.

 

“Why you don't try to take the Staff from me, if you want it so badly?” Nico shot at her mother.

 

“Because I'm no fool like you and your friends,” Tina replied. “You have _no idea_ what you're jeopardizing, Nico!”

 

“Then how about you fucking TELL ME, huh?! Stop with the secrets and just tell me what you're so worried about!”

 

“Your ancestors, _our_ ancestors, made a pact with the Staff, centuries ago,” Tina said. “They bound it to this dimension, giving it shape and form here, and in return they gained its power. It was a pact passed down from mother to daughter, uniting the Minoru clan across generations. We always retained the matrilineal name, to remind the men who came into our family where the true power lay. Emperors came and went, famine was replaced with prosperity, which was replaced with famine again, but our family's power only grew. We learned about the Staff, and it learned about us in turn.”

 

“So I come from a whole line of evil witches?” Nico asked. “Not surprised, considering.”

 

“It is your duty to maintain the compact, Nico. Or rather, it _was_.”

 

Remembering Tina's earlier words, Nico felt her body tense. “You're not taking our daughter!”

 

“I don't have to take her. I only have to train her, to teach her the right way to use the Staff. She can uphold the bargain if you refuse to do it, and she will never want for _anything_.”

 

“Except redemption. Or peace. Or love.”

 

“Those are overrated, Nico. Grow up! The Staff protects our souls from any judgment or karma. It exists _outside_ of the great wheel! It's a _cheat code_ for the soul!”

 

“Not anymore.”

 

Tina stiffened at the tone in Nico's voice. She had heard it many times. “You'll be damning all the souls of your grandmothers and maternal ancestors, Nico! You'll have all their suffering on your head!”

 

“No, I won't. They made their own choices, just like I make mine. And I'm not going along with this bargain any longer.”

 

“ _You don't have a choice!”_ Tina screamed. “You're a MINORU! YOU are bound to that Staff!”

 

Nico lifted the Staff before her. “There are no more Minorus. My name... is Nico _Dean_.”

 

“ _God_ , you're such a child!” Tina half-laughed, half-shouted. “Legalities don't mean anything to the Staff! It senses your blood, the darkness within you borne of generations of evil deeds! It CALLS to you, as you call to it! As it calls to me!”

 

Nico reached behind her and took Karolina's hand. She felt her wife give her a squeeze of support, and that gave Nico the confirmation she needed.

 

“I think it's time to renegotiate this contract, then,” Nico said, holding the Staff high above her head. _“THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!”_

 

Darkness swallowed them all.

 

—O—

 

Karolina blinked, and there was a padded mat beneath her bare feet. Nico stood before her, but the smaller woman was now wearing a loose black martial arts _gi_ , and her attention was directed several meters ahead, where Tina was facing them, wearing a similar outfit but with an off-white color to her _gi_.

 

And in between them, standing unassisted in the center of the large padded floor, was the Staff of One.

 

Nothing was around them. Literally. Where the edges of the floor and its padded mats stopped, there were no walls, no sights, no colors, no stars, nothing beyond.

 

“Nico,” Karolina said softly. “What's... What is this?”

 

“It's a challenge,” said her wife, who turned to face her.

 

Karolina was the only person who ever saw Nico without her makeup, and that was only at bedtime and in the bath. Seeing her lover's bare face and natural color in the presence of others was thoroughly unexpected, but it made Karolina smile. “You're so pretty,” she said, reaching up and pressing her hand against Nico's cheek. Without hesitation, the other woman reached up and covered Karolina's hand with her own.

 

“You'll stand with me? As my second?” asked Nico.

 

“Of course,” replied the blonde. “But I don't know what I need to do.”

 

“Just be here with me,” Nico said, smiling up at the taller woman. “I'll have to handle the rest.”

 

Karolina leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on Nico's lips. “I am _always_ with you,” she whispered.

 

Nico smiled back at her, then turned and started walking, not directly toward her mother, but partly to the girls' left. There Karolina saw a rack of sheathed katanas as tall as she was, at least seven or eight of the weapons arranged vertically in each rack, one rack for Nico, one for Tina.

 

Karolina looked across the floor to see Robert standing near Tina, apparently performing the same function as Karolina. She returned her attention to Nico and Tina. They both were tying up their hair behind their head, using the same movements, the same tempo as they worked.

 

One of the few ways they were alike more than they were different, and just seeing that juxtaposition felt strange to Karolina.

 

Karolina watched as Tina examined a small shelf that appeared to be hanging in the air beside the sheathed swords. Belts of various colors sat folded upon the small shelf. Tina reached for one, plucking it from the shelf and tying it around her waist. It was a kind Karolina had never seen before, a checkered red-and-white pattern, not the solid colors she was familiar with from books and shows.

 

She turned her attention to Nico, whose hand seemed to be hesitating over the half-dozen belts she could choose from. Abruptly Nico turned, not selecting a belt at all, then she walked to the rack of katanas.

 

Tina reached her array of weapons the same time as Nico. The younger woman looked at her mother, then down at Tina's belt before laughing, loud enough for Karolina for hear.

 

“Modest as usual, I see,” Nico said, turning to look at the swords displayed in front of her.

 

Tina ignored her daughter's comment, instead lightly touching several different weapons before pulling one from its spot. Its sheath was an elegantly lacquered cherry wood, its handle wrapped with red cord over dark metal. She gently pulled the sword partially from its sheath, admiring its look for a moment. She handed the wooden scabbard to Robert to hold; he took it gently, using the loose fabric of his robe to handle the scabbard, avoiding touching it with his bare hands.

 

Tina tested the balance of the blade, holding it in various positions, testing a controlled slice here, a thrust there. She looked back to Robert and nodded, holding the blade pointed in his direction. The man stepped forward, carefully guiding the wooden scabbard over the blade until it was about halfway sheathed, then Tina stepped forward to complete the sheathing. She took the katana and tucked it into her belt, turning to assess her daughter.

 

Nico examined each blade, even the one she could barely reach at the very top of the display. Each one she touched, both the scabbard and the handle. She took her time, closing her eyes as her fingertips lingered on each weapon. After going through all the katanas carefully, she reached up and lifted the uppermost katana, barely able to clear its grooved supports due to her height.

 

Karolina examined the sword and scabbard as Nico walked over to her. The handle and scabbard were both deepest black, the wood lacquered so deeply and skillfully that Karolina could see her own reflection in the glossy wood as Nico stopped centimeters away from the blonde. A cord of the same black color wrapped around the handle, with the visible pommel and guard appearing to be as dark as the rest of the katana.

 

Karolina didn't say anything at Nico's choice; she just smiled at the woman she loved. Nico reached toward Karolina's head, pausing beside the blonde's ear, as if asking for permission. Unsure what her wife was doing, Karolina nodded.

 

Nico smiled at her, then she carefully untied one of the white ribbons that were still in Karolina's hair. She gently pulled it free, then she held out the sheathed sword for Karolina to hold. Without thinking, Karolina grasped the sword's scabbard with her bare hands, holding it balanced in front of Nico's face before she realized what she had done.

 

“Sor—”

 

Nico's hands swiftly covered Karolina's left hand, holding the blonde and the sword in place. “It's okay,” the ebony-haired woman said. “I'm not your superior, or your better. What's mine is yours.”

 

Karolina nodded, hesitant to speak. The moment seemed deeply solemn, and she didn't want to do anything else wrong. She watched as Nico used both hands to tie the white ribbon just above the _kashira_ , the pommel of the sword, finishing it with a bow exactly like Karolina had worn in her hair for the wedding minutes ago, letting the two tails of white silk hang loose.

 

Nico took the sword back, but before she could fully turn around, Karolina gently stopped her with a hand on her upper arm. Nico turned back, her expression somewhere between curious and confused. Karolina held Nico's gaze as she reached back behind her own head, finding another tied ribbon. She quickly pulled one end, unknotting the white silk, then she gestured for Nico to turn around. When her wife did so, Karolina tied the ribbon over the hairtie Nico had already placed in position to keep her hair pulled back into a high ponytail. She made sure the bow was shaped adequately, letting the tails hang long as Nico had done with the one she had tied around her katana.

 

When Karolina withdrew her hands, Nico turned around to face her again.

 

“I'm with you, Nico,” Karolina whispered. “I believe in you.”

 

“I believe in you, too. And I believe in us.”

 

Karolina smiled. She took Nico's left hand and guided it down to her abdomen, gently pressing it over their child growing inside Karolina. “Believe in this, too,” she said.

 

Nico swallowed, eyelids fluttering briefly. “I do,” she said, her voice thick. “I think... I think the best thing I've ever done in my entire life is love you. I'll always fight for you.”

 

“Fight not just for us,” said Karolina. “Fight for _yourself_.”

 

Nico nodded. “I am. I'm not my mother. I can't solve problems like she does. I'm not that cold.”

 

“You're stronger than she is, Nico. Your love makes your stronger, your willpower, your stubbornness. Don't let her trick you, or make you feel guilty. You do what you know needs to be done, and I'll be standing with you in the ashes of what's left.”

 

Nico's eyebrows went up. “Interesting choice of words.”

 

Karolina smiled back. “I only speak the truth.” She leaned down and kissed Nico on the lips. Nico lifted the sword up, holding it vertically between their faces, the handle at face-level with Karolina. The blonde gave her a curious look, then she carefully leaned forward and pressed a kiss of blessing to the wrapped handle, getting a smile from Nico in return.

 

Nico took two steps backward, still holding the sheathed sword in her left hand, no belt around her _gi_. She kept smiling at Karolina.

 

“What do I do now?” asked Karolina as Nico continued to walk away from her and toward where her mother was kneeling, her own katana carefully laid in front of her knees.

 

“Don't get in the way,” Nico said, flashing a toothy grin. “And believe in me.”

 

Karolina's hand went to her abdomen out of reflex. “I believe,” she whispered to herself, and she did.

 

“Is that part of your strategy?” Tina said as Nico approached her. The Staff continued to stand between them, roughly three meters away from both women as Nico settled into a kneeling position opposite her mother. “Annoy me by making me wait?”

 

Nico placed her sheathed katana on the ground before her, as her mother had already done. “I wouldn't discuss my strategy with you,” she replied, closing her eyes. “It wouldn't be good enough for you, anyway.”

 

Neither of them attempted to speak further. After a minute or two of meditation, Nico felt that her spirit was right, that her will was aligned with what was right, and that she would never be more ready to do what had to be done. She quietly got to her feet, picking up her sword and moving several paces back, then turning around. She stood quietly, holding the sheathed sword in her left hand, her right hand at her side.

 

Tina opened her eyes, fixing them on Nico. She likewise rose to her feet and tucked her weapon into her belt, her left hand on the wooden scabbard. She took up a position opposite Nico, the Staff still between them in the center of the tatami mat. Both sets of brown eyes watched the other closely as mother and daughter bowed to each other, a modest bow for each.

 

Neither of them moved for several seconds after they rose and returned to a neutral stance for Nico and a ready stance for Tina. Still neither of them spoke. Tina's expression was confident, even smug, as she looked at Nico. Her daughter's expression was neutral, even calm.

 

Tina slowly drew her sword, the gleaming metal hissing softly as it slid out of the cherry scabbard.

 

Nico made no move to draw her blade.

 

Tina shifted her blade into a low guard, the tip of the blade angled toward Nico. She slowly stepped to the side, moving around the Staff, which remained still, save for the fact that the circular headpiece continued to crackle with a white-yellow electricity inside its curved boundary.

 

Nico took a step backward, then to the side, keeping the Staff between her and her mother.

 

“I have no time for games, Nico,” Tina said.

 

“We have all the time we need,” replied Nico, still holding her scabbard. Her right hand had moved closer to the handle of her katana, but she still made no move to draw her blade. Her fingertips lightly brushed the dangling tails of the white ribbon tied around the handle just above the pommel.

 

Tina's eyes glanced to the motion of Nico's fingers, lingering for a moment on the simple decoration that had come from Karolina.

 

“How sweet,” she said, acidly. “These feelings have made you soft, even softer than Amy was. Your hardness was your strength. It was one quality of yours that made me proud.”

 

“A blade made with hard steel alone is brittle and prone to breaking,” Nico replied calmly. “Adding soft steel to hard, layering them together, tempering them, makes for a superior blade.”

 

Tina lunged forward, taking a swipe at Nico that wasn't close to serious. She paused just long enough for Karolina, who was watching nervously, to think that she was toying with Nico, then Tina lunged for real.

 

Nico's mother was in her early forties, but she struck like a viper, lunging forward, blade first toward Nico's chest. So fast and smooth that Karolina could barely follow the movement, Nico stepped to her left and spun, meeting her mother's attempt to slash the blade toward Nico mid-lunge with the wooden scabbard. The clack of metal and wood colliding was surprisingly loud in the stillness, and the sharp sound seemed to linger in the air as the two women faced each other again.

 

This time Nico was in a defensive stance to counter Tina's attack stance, blade held high and over her right shoulder, the tip of the sword pointed directly at Nico's face to minimize Nico's visibility of the blade.

 

Nico still hadn't drawn her sword.

 

“Still playing games,” Tina said, disapprovingly.

 

Nico refused to answer, instead keeping her eyes focused on Tina's form, watching her mother's hands, torso, feet carefully.

 

Tina rushed at Nico again, and this time Nico rolled to the side, continuing to dodge as her mother pursued her, aiming controlled slashes and swift thrusts at her daughter. Nico's scabbard rang out crisply as she had to block or deflect several dangerously close strikes with the wooden scabbard, which seemed oddly durable to Karolina's eyes.

 

The blonde was deeply grateful for that, because there was no doubt Tina was both skilled and aggressive.

 

Nico dashed around the mat, dodging a slash by jumping the blade, then evading a forceful charge by diving and rolling under her mother's off-arm, coming up in a guard stance to deflect a backhanded slash, then jumping backward again.

 

“I do admire your confidence,” Tina said, seemingly no more out of breath than when they had started.

 

(Karolina wasn't sure how long that had been. She looked over to Robert, in the opposite corner of the tatami from her, and he seemed to be as still as marble as he watched his wife and daughter perform their lethal dance.)

 

Nico remained silent, the expression on her face still a cool neutrality that betrayed nothing to her mother.

 

“However, choosing a test of _iaido_ was foolish on your part,” Tina continued. “You never could beat me with a blade.”

 

“Assuming that this was a test of swordsmanship was arrogance on _your_ part,” Nico said, her calm demeanor dropping long enough to give her mother a look of teenage churlishness that any parent could instantly recognize.

 

Tina now stalked toward Nico, moving left, then right, trying to limit her daughter's options for movement. “What is this, then?” she asked, her voice growing cold.

 

Nico answered by lunging forward, driving the end of her scabbard toward Tina's face. Her mother swatted away the attack with visible disdain, but the wide sweep opened her stance enough for Nico to drive an elbow into her mother's chest, then lunge away as the silver blade of her mother's katana came hissing through the air where she had just been.

 

Nico stopped, in a guard position once more. Marks were deeply gouged into the black wood of her katana's scabbard, but it remained in one piece, and her sword remained sheathed.

 

“It's a battle of wills,” she said to her mother.

 

The look of building fury in Tina Minoru's eyes was evident to Karolina over fifteen meters away, but she kept quiet, not wanting to distract her wife for even a second.

 

Tina's attack was hissing, flashing slashes of silver, cutting a lethal pattern that Nico only barely managed to block and dodge. During the flurry of slashes, the end of Tina's blade opened a cut on Nico's left sleeve but missed her forearm, and another slice opened a furrow in the right leg of Nico's loose pants; when an opening appeared, Nico dropped to the ground and drove the wooden scabbard of her still-sheathed sword into Tina's right shin with a loud crack, drawing a cry of pain from the older woman.

 

Tina held her ground as Nico backed away, the older woman shifting her weight to her good leg. She refused to look at her right lower leg, but the pain was burning up to her knee and down to her foot, which was already starting to go numb. She tested that leg's ability to bear weight; it could, but the pain of doing so was significant. She looked up and met Nico's eyes, focused directly on her.

 

Tina adjusted her stance, shifting her weight and the grip on her sword as she adopted a more solid, powerful stance, less agile but harder to defeat.

 

Nico slowly moved to the side, her sheathed sword still held in her left hand.

 

Tina moved forward with short, powerful steps, keeping most of her weight on her uninjured leg. Now she cried out with a downward slash, which Nico dodged to her left; Tina flipped and reversed the blade, swinging it back low, at Nico's knees.

 

Nico launched herself up and to her right, twisting her body over Tina's blade as it swept parallel to the tatami mat, landing on her outstretched right arm and hand as her body continued its momentum, cartwheeling on over to land on her feet again as Tina shifted her weight, trying to turn to resume her guard stance once more.

 

That was when Nico struck.

 

Karolina was still processing the one-handed cartwheel Nico had just done when the jet-haired woman's feet hit the mat, using the rebound from the impact to lunge forward at her mother. She drew her sword as part of her strike, and as the blade cleared the wooden scabbard, the steel illuminated into familiar bright pink, purple and yellow, making Karolina gasp.

 

Tina managed to get her blade up into an awkward block, but Nico's glowing blade cut through the steel of Tina's katana as easily as paper, its tip passing centimeters from Tina's chest but not touching her shirt.

 

As the blade of Tina's katana thudded to the mat, Nico smoothly re-sheathed her glowing sword, with the bright pink light disappearing once again.

 

Tina threw the handle of her sword at Nico, who easily slid to the side to avoid it.

 

“You can't beat me in a battle of wills, either!” Tina shouted angrily at her daughter. “I won't _ever_ quit!”

 

Nico held her ground, feet spaced shoulder-width apart, her body surprisingly calm. She regarded her furious mother with a cool expression, a complete reversal of how their _iaido_ sessions had historically turned out. When Nico spoke, the calm in her voice made Tina seethe.

 

“I never said this was a battle of wills between you and me.”

 

Tina screamed. Karolina had never seen Tina Minoru so enraged, and even with Nico between her and her mother, as their positions currently were, the blonde found herself genuinely afraid of what Nico's mother was capable of doing.

 

Tina turned and lunged for the Staff, just steps away, between her and Nico. And Nico made no move to stop her.

 

“NICO!” Karolina yelled. “NICO! You can't let her—”

 

As soon as Tina's hand closed around the Staff of One, reality snapped.

 

The white electricity crackling around the Staff's headpiece turned a dark purple-black, and a spot of pure blackness bloomed in the very center of the headpiece's metal circle. Swirling lines of violet began to twist and rotate around the black... hole, Karolina supposed, because that's what it _was_ , literally, and with a great rush of air, Karolina felt herself pulled forward, toward the Staff standing upright in the center of the tatami mat.

 

The howl of air being pulled away from her was unnerving, and Karolina found herself leaning backward and digging her heels into the mat, trying to resist the Staff's pull. The belts flew off the small shelves, toward the circular headpiece, where they were sucked in and vanished. The racks began to rattle and shiver, and the swords that had not been chosen flew to the center of the tableau, likewise vanishing with a hungry _snap_ as they touched the Staff's headpiece.

 

Karolina felt her feet slide across the tatami's surface. She bloomed into incandescence and used her flight to fight the pull, but it was too powerful to completely resist.

 

The shelves rattled and came apart, their pieces flying into the headpiece. One of them slammed into Tina before vanishing into the headpiece; the older Minoru woman shook off the impact, managing to stand and brace her feet and legs against the Staff, her hand still gripping the artifact.

 

Karolina looked up to see Robert Minoru in the same predicament as her, with no powers to aid him. His footing gave way, and he tumbled toward Tina and the Staff, picking up speed as he bounced and skipped toward his wife, fingers clawing at the mat, trying to stop his slide toward the Staff.

 

Another groan, following by cracking of wood, and the large sword racks, now empty, shattered; their pieces flew toward the howling vortex in the headpiece of the Staff, pulling everything in toward its hungry heart.

 

 _No_ , Karolina realized, as a chill swept through her body. Not everything was moving toward the Staff.

 

Nico Minoru Dean stood in the same position she had held before her mother had grasped the Staff of One, her bare feet sinking slightly into the familiar surface of the tatami mat. Her legs were taut, her arms steady, and now Karolina realized that Nico, in her current position, hadn't just been facing her mother. She was squarely positioned facing the Staff as well.

 

Karolina felt herself slide closer to Nico, closer to the black hole in the Staff's headpiece. She was afraid to leave the mat and the friction it afforded her through her feet; she was already using her flight and her legs to try and fight the pull inward, but she was losing.

 

Robert flew off the mat, barreling toward Tina. He reached out and grabbed her left arm, which she had stretched out for him, but his body twisted and was pulled into the Staff's vortex, feet first, the powerful suction ripping his arm out of Tina's grasp.

 

Nico stood, silent, her focus seemingly on the Staff, until a tiny movement of her right hand drew Karolina's attention. Her wife's right hand was reaching out behind Nico, fingers splayed, palm open. Reaching for Karolina.

 

Karolina tried to control her approach toward her wife, but she wasn't able to do much. “Nico, I'm almost to you,” she called out, yelling over the now shrieking wind, now less than a meter from her wife. She was terrified that her momentum, slight as it was, would be enough to unbalance Nico, to send both of them tumbling, like Robert, into nothingness or whatever the hell was on the other side of the vortex.

 

As Karolina brushed against Nico's back, her right hand closed around Nico's.

 

The warm grip against her right hand was everything to Nico. Karolina was with her.

 

As Karolina felt her body pulled against Nico's back by the Staff's vortex, she wrapped her left arm around Nico's waist, under Nico's left arm and the sheathed sword her wife still held in her left hand. She felt her body pulled toward the Staff, but Nico did not move.

 

“NICO!” screamed a voice, and Karolina looked over Nico's shoulder to see Tina's fingers slip off the Staff. The woman was ripped out of existence, yanked headfirst into the Staff's vortex.

 

Now all that remained in this micro-realm was the Staff, the tatami upon which it stood, Nico, Karolina, and Nico's sword. Karolina tightened her grip on her wife, who remained resolute in her stance despite the pull of the Staff and the force of Karolina behind her.

 

The realm began to rapidly grow dark as even light itself began to be sucked into the vortex. Karolina felt her own light start to ebb and dim, as a thin stream of flowing color formed between her and the Staff's vortex as it sucked in her light as well. As everything began to darken, Karolina felt a sense of dread begin to creep toward her. It was already nearly dark as night after just seconds of the light being stripped away, and as everything grew dark, Karolina felt the pounding of her heart increase markedly.

 

Whispers began to ooze into her ears as all grew dark, save for the rim of purple around the blackness of the vortex. The whispers at first seemed to be white noise, but they quickly grew distinct.

 

“ _Brainwashed.”_

 

“ _Stupid blonde.”_

 

“ _Airhead.”_

 

“ _Cultist.”_

 

“ _Child.”_

 

“ _Alien.”_

 

“ _Failure.”_

 

“ _Runaway.”_

 

“ _Teen pregnancy.”_

 

“ _No one wants you.”_

 

“ _No one loves you.”_

 

“ _Nico only pretends to love you.”_

 

“ _She won't be faithful to you.”_

 

“ _She doesn't want this child.”_

 

“ _Where's your light now?”_

 

Karolina tightened her grip on Nico and felt the swell of the child within her, the only two things she had left.

 

Nico heard the whispers as well, but hers were entirely different.

 

“ _Bitch.”_

 

“ _Foreigner.”_

 

“ _Second-best.”_

 

“ _Failure.”_

 

“ _Unlovable.”_

 

“ _Cunt.”_

 

“ _Backstabber.”_

 

“ _Freak.”_

 

“ _Witch.”_

 

“ _You'll never be Amy.”_

 

“ _You'll never have Amy back.”_

 

“ _Your parents will never love you like they did her.”_

 

“ _You'll never be as good as Amy.”_

 

“ _Karolina doesn't love you.”_

 

“ _She'll leave you one day.”_

 

“ _You'll break her heart.”_

 

“ _Your soul is evil.”_

 

“ _You'll bring Karolina down with you.”_

 

“ _You'll get all of them killed.”_

 

“You can't scare me with the darkness!” Nico called out, and the sudden noise made Karolina start. “I AM the darkness!”

 

“I'm not,” Karolina whispered in Nico's ear, shivering in the cold void.

 

“No,” Nico said, covering Karolina's left hand with her right where her wife was clutching Nico's chest. “You're the light, Karolina, even in the deepest darkness.”

 

“It drained my light,” Karolina said, her voice weak and afraid, and it made her feel ashamed, how useless she felt.

 

“Karolina,” said Nico tenderly. “Nothing can ever drain your light, because you ARE light. You're _my_ light. My Starlight.”

 

Karolina felt cold tears slide down her cheeks onto Nico's shirt. Nico was standing here, fighting this pull from the vortex, keeping Karolina safe, while she was falling apart, trying to push Nico into the vortex, unable to even help. She was lost in the darkness, when—

 

The darkness.

 

The whispers started with the darkness. The doubt surged with the darkness. But Nico was part of the darkness, and Nico was _right here_ , warm against Karolina's body, still breathing, still fighting, refusing to give in to the Staff and its damn tricks.

 

They were in the darkness, and Karolina WAS the light. She was Nico's light. She was their baby's light. And no matter what the darkness in her own mind told her, Karolina would _always_ shine for them.

 

—O—

 

Even with her eyes closed in the darkness, Nico could see the brightness flare to life through her closed eyelids. The whispers retreated, driven away by the light. The feelings of doubt and defeat that had gnawed at Nico, trying to break her resolve, evaporated in Karolina's joy and brilliance. Nico felt her wife's warmth swell behind and around her, felt Karolina's body language shift from frightened to steadfast, and it made her smile in the silhouette of her wife's multicolored radiance.

 

—O—

 

Now Karolina could see the Staff again, the pale tatami mat at their feet now lit in swirls of rich color from her light. They were all that was left, and the meters between them.

 

And Nico. Refused. To. Move.

 

Karolina felt her wife's body shift as Nico's right arm suddenly thrust outward, toward the Staff, reaching for it.

 

There was a high-pitched scraping sound as the Staff slid a centimeter toward Nico and Karolina.

 

Nico's hand closed and opened, still calling for the Staff, and a longer squeal, like granite being pushed across slate, as the Staff slid closer, closer, leaving a gouged trail in the tatami despite the impossibility of that happening.

 

Nico's eyes opened, and a smile stretched across her face as she called for the Staff again, and again it scooted closer to her, the groaning screech of its unwilling movement a joyous tune to Nico's ears.

 

“You cannot defeat me,” Nico said, calm, centered with Karolina's arms around her and her wife's warmth and light embracing her. “You cannot control me.”

 

The Staff slid closer, and the groove it etched in the mat below them grew deeper as it slid forward with another screech.

 

“I will not maintain your old bargain. I will not feed you souls. The actions of my ancestors were their own, and I have no responsibility to them, only to my family here and yet to come.”

 

The Staff slid forward again, and the squeal of its passage now sounded like a scream to Karolina.

 

“I will not control you,” Nico said. “I will _conquer you_ , and _you will submit_ , for I am more than one. I have Karolina and she has me, and WE are more than one. We are the darkness and the light joined, and we do not fear doing the impossible.”

 

The Staff visibly shook, then it scraped forward again.

 

“You have given our family new life, made from us,” Nico continued. “For that we are grateful. You are bound to me, to my family, and that will not change. You are of darkness, and we accept that. You share your power with us, and we will share our pain, our despair, our suffering with you, for that is where you were created and from which you draw strength.”

 

Nico paused and pressed down on Karolina's hand, drawing joy from the closeness of her wife, of their growing child, gently pressed between the two of them.

 

“And we will also share our joy, our love, our devotion, so that you might one day come to understand these things as well, because, while you were born from darkness, you _can_ be more than that. This I promise you, for I am Nico Minoru Dean, and _I AM YOUR MASTER._ ”

 

With a crack that struck like thunder, the Staff broke free and flew to Nico's hand.

 

—O—

 

The brightness of the afternoon sun made Karolina blink for a few seconds, until her eyes swiftly adjusted.

 

“We're back,” she said, looking down at Nico, once again in her ebony wedding dress and gloves, the Staff held in both her hands.

 

“We never left,” said Nico, looking around. “Physically, at least. That was all mental, spiritual.”

 

A groan from beside them drew their attention.

 

“Mom!” Karolina said, kneeling to help her mother sit upright.

 

“What... happened?” Leslie said, head spinning and mouth dry.

 

“My parents crashed the wedding,” Nico said, walking over to where her mother's body lay crumpled on the ground.

 

Around them, the Crater residents in their pale yellow scrubs and staff in their blue shirts began to stir, with soft groans, yawns and mumbles as they began to sit up and slowly get to their feet.

 

“How did they know?” asked Leslie. “I certainly didn't tell them!”

 

Nico knelt beside her mother, tucking the now-shortened Staff into the black sash she wore around her gown's waist. “She probably has software set up to monitor your calls and texts,” she said as she checked her mother's pulse at her throat. It was present but slow. “I bet she knew that you were meeting us this morning, then saw that you wanted a photographer to come up to Crater and put two and two together.”

 

After making sure that her mother's hands were empty and picking up the bag that lay next to her, Nico stood, turning to meet Karolina's gaze. “Mom's alive. Or at least her body is.”

 

“What does that mean?” Leslie asked.

 

“Karolina and I saw her and Dad's spirits get pulled into the Staff,” Nico said, keeping her voice low as she walked back over to Leslie. “I don't think they'll wake up.”

 

Karolina went to check on Robert, still glowing and ready to blast him at the slightest movement. The threat of having her memories of her friends, of Nico, of their baby taken away from her terrified her more than almost anything, and she wasn't taking chances. She encased Robert with a light field before she reached him and knelt down, making sure he couldn't move as she checked him for a heartbeat and respirations.

 

“Your dad's alive, too,” Karolina said, standing and backing away several meters before turning and walking back toward Nico and Leslie. She kept the energy field around Robert for the time being. “Should we tie them up?”

 

“No, but they need to be watched,” Nico said, a frown spreading across her face.

 

“What the hell,” they heard Gert moan; the three of them turned to see Gert, Molly, Chase and Alex all start to stir. Old Lace's tail twitched, then thumped, and she slowly got to her feet as well.

 

“Did we get knocked out?” asked Alex, looking around. “Oh shit, your parents!” he said, seeing Tina's motionless figure.

 

“They're dealt with,” Nico said. “Permanently, I think.”

 

“We should call an ambulance,” Karolina said.

 

“Crater has an arrangement with an emergency medical transport company. I'll have them come get Robert and Tina. Which hospital should they go to?”

 

“Cedars-Sinai,” Nico replied. “Mom and Dad have donated a shit-ton of money to them.”

 

“We'll have to give a police statement,” Karolina said.

 

Nico looked at the blonde. “This is PRIDE we're talking about. I don't think too many questions are going to be asked.”

 

“Still! What are we going to say? We were getting married, your parents showed up, we argued, then two hundred people just passed out?”

 

Nico nodded. “That's exactly what we're going to say, because that's what happened.” She gestured to Leslie and the dirty patches and scuffs on her jacket and pants. “People hit the ground. There's plenty of evidence of that. And you've got two hundred witnesses who'll chalk it up to a religious experience.”

 

“What about the burns on your mom's hands?”

 

Nico shrugged. “Obviously, whatever she was holding blew up. Good luck with the police trying to figure out what it was. We sure as fuck don't know, because we didn't invite them. They just showed up.”

 

“What did she have?” asked Chase. “For real?”

 

Nico turned to face him. “Brain scrambler. For me. Hurt like a bitch.”

 

“Did it make you talk all goofy again?” asked Molly, grinning.

 

Nico's expression wasn't happy. “Yes. And like I said, this one fucking _hurt_.”

 

“What happened to us?” asked Gert, wincing from the confused minds surrounding her.

 

“I think a sleep spell, or something like it,” Karolina said. “Nico was able to shield herself and me.” She looked over at her wife. “I guess your parents did still have some magic after all.”

 

Nico looked around, her eyes falling on the discarded wooden staff across the courtyard. She turned and walked over to the now-inert relic. When she grasped it, she felt a faint tingle of residual magic, as well as an angry pulse from the Staff at her waist.

 

“Calm down,” she spoke softly to the Staff. “Just checking this thing out. It's dead anyway.” She carried it with her as she walked back over to Leslie and Karolina, where the rest of the Runaways were gathering. She carefully set the bag Tina had brought as well as the staff on the ground next to Leslie, giving her a serious look before turning back to Karolina. The Crater residents and staff were now standing around as well, unsure of what to do.

 

Karolina became aware of the nervous mutters behind them; she turned her head to see almost everyone looking either at her or the two bodies still on the ground. She looked back at her mother, then she turned around and took a few steps toward the Crater residents and staff.

 

“I apologize for...” she paused, trying to come up with an excuse that they'd believe. “For my light overwhelming you!” she said, raising her voice and letting her body and hair flare into incandescence again. She let herself float upward a meter or two before continuing. “All of you will be examined to make sure you were not harmed by sharing my light.”

 

She descended once more, and Nico stepped forward to join her. Karolina took Nico's hand, then turned to face the Gibborim faithful once more. “Thank you for witnessing our union, and for your faith,” she said proudly, making the statement a dismissal despite her wide smile.

 

All of them bowed their heads, even the Crater workers. Then they all quietly stood and filed away, returning to... whatever they had been doing before.

 

“I do feel a bit dirty leading them on,” she quietly admitted to Nico.

 

“Then don't take advantage of them,” said Nico. “Karolina, they've practically been taught to look up to you since you were a kid, and a lot of that is because, even outside Gibborim, you're an incredible person. You're not going to ask them to do shit that's cruel or evil.”

 

“No, I wouldn't,” she admitted. “I guess being a goddess is weird, but kind of cool.” Karolina said to Nico, keeping her voice low.

 

“You get used to it.”

 

Karolina turned to Nico and playfully pushed her wife's shoulder, getting a familiar smirk in return.

 

And she loved it.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for this taking a while, but it was another LONG chapter. Next chapter, it's time to finally meet the newest member of the Runaway family.


	6. What the Fuck Just Happened

_I don't care if you hate me_

_'Cause you're gonna have to face me_

_And there's no use in crying_

_You know I would be lying_

_If I said you could escape me_

_What doesn't kill me makes me vicious_

_I'm not gonna break, I can take all that you can give_

_This is survival of the sickest_

_I am not afraid, bring the pain_

_What doesn't kill me makes me vicious_

 

\--Halestorm, “Vicious”

 

 

—O—

—O—

 

“ _The sole heir to the tech giant Wizard has officially been cleared of any wrongdoing in the deaths of her parents. Nico Minoru Dean, eighteen years old and the only surviving daughter of Robert and Tina Minoru, stands poised to inherit both of her parents' shares of Wizard, which, added to her own personal portfolio of roughly five percent of the tech company's stocks, would give her ownership of over seventy percent of Wizard, a Fortune 500 company._

 

“ _Uncertainty currently holds sway at the highest levels of Wizard, as Mrs. Dean has had very little exposure to the company's daily functioning, as opposed to her parents, who were intimately involved in Wizard's day-to-day operations until their recent deaths._

 

“ _Robert and Tina Minoru were present at the wedding of their daughter and Karolina Dean, daughter of Church of Gibborim leader Leslie Ellerh Dean, four months ago, a private ceremony conducted at an undisclosed location in the California desert. Several guests were treated after collapsing from heat exhaustion, among them Robert and Tina Minoru. Despite all attempts by medical staff at Cedars-Sinai Hospital to stabilize the couple, Robert Minoru passed away five days after his daughter's wedding. Tina Minoru passed away two days after her husband._

 

“ _Rumors continue to swirl regarding bad blood between Nico Minoru Dean and her parents, stemming back to a malicious police report that falsely identified Nico, the youngest Minoru, as one of several suspects in the murder of Destiny Gonzalez, a young runaway whose body washed ashore on a Los Angeles beach last year. While no one was ever officially charged with filing the false report that led to Nico Minoru and five other teenagers—among them Karolina Dean—being hunted as fugitives for several months, speculation persists that Robert and Tina Minoru, also founding members of the multimillion dollar charity PRIDE, had something to do with filing that report. That speculation remains fueled by multiple accounts of a bitter estrangement between Nico and Robert and Tina, an estrangement that some say turned violent based on hospital repo—”_

 

“Oh my god, turn that shit off,” Nico said as she came out of her and Karolina's room. She was wearing one of Karolina's nightshirts, which fell down to her knees, as she came down the main steps from the second level.

 

“It's important to know how much people have been able to put together,” replied Alex, sitting with Molly in front of a modest flat-screen television that had been set up in one corner of the Hostel's main room.

 

“Our parents _sucked_. Have they figured that much out yet?” Nico said as she stepped off the wide stairs onto the aged floor of the cavernous room.

 

“Hey, hon?” Karolina called out from the open door to their room. She was thirty-eight weeks into the pregnancy, and walking was much trickier than it used to be. “Can you get me some hot tea, please?”

 

“Karolina!” Molly called out. “The news is running a thing on Nico!”

 

“Molly!” Nico hissed. “She doesn't need to be up so much. Walking's hard on her this far along.”

 

“Good thing I don't have to walk,” Karolina said, smiling as she floated through the doorway, her body glowing pink and purple with some yellow and blue hues visible intermittently. She stayed upright as she flew down the stairs, meeting Nico as she reached the main floor.

 

“Babe,” Nico said patiently, catching her wife's arms and instantly becoming weightless herself. “You need to take it _easy_.”

 

“No, I _need_ this baby to come on out!” Karolina said, frustrated. “God, Nico, I want to hold this little girl _so fucking bad_. And I'm tired of being big and pregnant! My back hurts all the time. I can't wear most of my clothes. I have to go pee every two hours! And do you know the last time I saw my feet?!”

 

“It's back on!” Molly said, turning her attention back to the television.

 

Nico gave Karolina a tired look, but Karolina countered with her pitiful look. Nico had no chance to resist.

 

“ _Little remains known about Nico Dean. She was a student at the private Atlas Academy until last year, when she was withdrawn in the middle of her junior year for reasons that the school declined to disclose. While Atlas's grades and records are kept private, classmates who were willing to be interviewed said she did well academically but cultivated a strongly antisocial demeanor.”_

 

“ _She was a witch. Like, a real-life witch. Dressed all in black, creepy make-up, the whole she-bang.”_

 

“ _She kept to herself. Didn't really make many friends but wasn't really mean. She just did her own thing, you know?”_

 

“ _She totally had something to do with her parents biting it! She was a satanist! She used to keep dead animals in her locker!”_

 

“Did you really keep dead animals in your locker?” Molly asked, turning around in her seat.

 

“NO, Molly! Give me a _bit_ of credit, here!” Nico gestured at the screen. “Not like that bitch Roxanne'd know! She was too busy snorting Adderall!”

 

Karolina put her arm around Nico as they floated just a hair above the ground. “Did they already show the reporter trying to interview Nico at the interment for her mom and dad at the end of June?”

 

“Yeah, that was the BEST!” Molly said, whirling around. “They had to bleep _everything_! She was _so_ pissed off!”

 

“Assholes shouldn't have gotten in my face,” Nico said quietly. “Not after that.”

 

Karolina pulled Nico closer, then kissed her wife on the top of her head. “I'm sorry, hon. I know that was a bad day for you.”

 

Nico nodded, uncharacteristically quiet. “Yeah,” she mumbled. “It was.”

 

—O—

 

_Nico's hand was already reaching into her black jacket for the Staff when Karolina slid in front of her, physically blocking Nico from seeing the reporter who had climbed the fence of the cemetery and memorial gardens to crash the funeral and interment for Robert and Tina's cremated remains._

 

“ _Nico!” Karolina said, grabbing Nico's arms and trying to get the dark-haired witch's attention. Nico had already spit out a very long and impressive string of profanity, and Karolina wanted to avoid televised murder if possible. “Cameras, sweetheart!” she said quietly but firmly as she looked into Nico's brown eyes. “Cameras, cellphones, who knows what.”_

 

_Nico was obviously seething at the reporter accosting her, but she couldn't take it out on Karolina. Or be mad at her. None of this was Karolina's fault._

 

_Nico let go of the Staff. She pulled her hand out of her jacket, patting Karolina on the shoulder instead. “Thanks,” she said, looking up into bright blue eyes. “Hey, will you... Will you do something for me?”_

 

“ _Um, I_ guess _,” Karolina said, her loving smile making it clear that she was teasing. “Since, you know, I_ am _carrying your child.”_

 

_Nico nodded, and the gesture told Karolina that her new wife was significantly more nervous than she was letting on. “Just... stay with me here for a bit. Until everyone leaves. Okay?”_

 

_Karolina searched the depths of Nico's cherry wood eyes. She nodded. “Sure, hon. Of course.”_

 

_Nico took a seat on a marble bench placed along the hallway of the mausoleum, with Karolina sitting beside her. Nico's gaze remained fixed at the polished stone floor as Karolina rubbed her back. When one of the attendants inquired if they needed anything, Karolina made it clear that they needed some privacy; the older man smiled politely and nodded, then proceeded to efficiently sweep everyone else out of the mausoleum, including the cemetery and gardens staff._

 

“ _Okay, they're all gone,” Karolina said, after double-checking that only the two of them remained._

 

_Nico looked up and took in a deep breath, holding it in for a few heartbeats before blowing it out. She turned to look at Karolina again. “Thank you,” she said, softly. “For everything.”_

 

_Karolina gave Nico a long hug. “It's okay to miss them,” she said quietly._

 

“ _They were such assholes,” Nico said, struggling against tears. “They hurt you. They hurt me. They tried to erase our memories. They don't deserve me being sad over them dying.”_

 

“ _They're still your parents, hon. They changed your diapers. They drove you to school. They fed you and clothed you. They raised you. Yes, they were assholes, but they were still part of your life, good and bad. That part's gone, and while it's going to get better, it's still a big hole in your heart.”_

 

_Nico put her left arm around Karolina's lower back and her right arm across the blonde's abdomen, resting her right hand on the baby bump as she leaned in and let herself cry briefly._

 

_She DID have a hole in her life now, with her parents gone. But she had so much more now, too. That made the pain bearable._

 

_After a minute or two of Karolina quietly holding her while she cried, Nico finally sat back up. “Sorry,” she said with a sniff. “I'm sure I got makeup on your black dress.”_

 

“ _No big. It'll come out. And you're worth more to me than a stupid dress.” She held up a handful of Kleenex she had fished out of her purse while Nico had been crying._

 

“ _How are you so amazing?” Nico asked, taking some of the tissues._

 

“ _I'm just naturally incredible.”_

 

_Nico nodded as she wiped, then used another tissue to dab at her eyes. “Yeah, I'll buy that,” she said, getting a sunny grin from Karolina. “Thank you for being here with me.”_

 

“ _Of course.”_

 

“ _You up for one more thing?”_

 

“ _For you, absolutely.”_

 

_Nico took a deep breath and stood, reaching for Karolina's hands. The blonde placed her hands in Nico's and let her wife help pull her to her feet. Nico looked into Karolina's eyes for a moment, then she turned and led Karolina back toward the vault now housing the remains of her parents._

 

_Karolina examined the carefully cut names of Nico's parents, one on each side of the vault that was chest-high to her. Decorations outlined the marble endpiece, but as Karolina watched, Nico forcefully removed the decorations that were on the two lower corners of the vault, hanging down and obscuring the marble plate of the vault below; without a word, Nico tore those pieces of decoration off and threw them on the ground._

 

“ _Nico, honey...” Karolina began, only to stop when she saw the now-revealed name on the vault below Robert and Tina's._

 

_**Amy Sophia Minoru** _

 

“ _Oh,” Karolina said softly. She took Nico's right hand._

 

_Nico laid her left hand flat against the cool marble, directly over Amy's carved name. “Hey Sis,” she said gently. “So, Mom and Dad are right above you. Sorry about that. They'd already paid for it and gave the place specific directions, so the people here wouldn't let me change it. I wanted to put their lying asses outside in the rain.”_

 

_Karolina fought back a laugh. Nico really_ had _tried to make that change._

 

“ _But I know you won't take any more of their shit now. Anyway, that's not the only reason I'm here.”_

 

_Nico released Karolina's hand and opened her arm for the blonde to slide closer. Karolina complied, putting her own arm around Nico in support as she fought back tears of her own._

 

“ _I know you remember Karolina. Not like you could forget her, right? Well, turns out she isn't just brilliant and beautiful, she's also gay and crazy enough to fall in love with me. So we got married, and we're having a kid in a few months. We're starting a little family of our own, inside the bigger family that we chose, not the ones we were born into.”_

 

_Tears dripped off Nico's cheeks, and she had to close her eyes for a few seconds. “But...” she said, voice shaking, “If I could have chosen... I still would've picked you for my big sister.”_

 

_Karolina hugged Nico more tightly as she also blinked away tears, eyes sliding across the vault. Amy's name was etched on the left side of the marble piece, with the right side of the marble empty. “Was this supposed to be for Amy's husband?” she asked, her right hand rising to trail her fingertips over the unmarked surface._

 

_Nico nodded. “They got one for me, too. Below Amy, of course.”_

 

“ _Well, it's for us now,” Karolina said firmly. “Many years in the future.”_

 

_Nico didn't say anything. Her lip trembled as emotion flooded her body, warm and soothing to fight the angry bitterness that the morning had stirred up._

 

“ _Or, if you want, we can go up here,” Karolina said, pressing her fingertips over the blank right side of Amy's vault. “So Amy won't be alone.”_

 

_It was so sweet a thought, so_ Karolina, _that Nico broke down again, and Karolina turned her around and held her tight to her chest; Nico had to lean in a bit due to the baby bump, but it was fine, it was perfect, having Karolina holding her with their soon-to-be child between them._

 

_Nico nodded through her tears. “I'd like that,” she said roughly, against the smooth fabric of her wife's dress. “And Amy would too.”_

 

_They stood there for a few minutes, all quiet in the mausoleum. Neither of them felt rushed, and Nico felt as at peace as she could, given everything she and Karolina had been through._

 

“ _We could name our baby after her,” Karolina said softly. “After Amy.”_

 

_Nico shook her head. “No,” she said. “I want our daughter, all our kids, to be their own people. I wouldn't want any of them to have to carry the name of their dead aunt. They'd grow up and live in a shadow they might never escape. That wouldn't be fair to them.”_

 

_She looked up to Karolina. “But that_ was _very sweet of you to suggest. Thank you.”_

 

“ _You're welcome,” replied the blonde. “Then we'll honor her in other ways.”_

 

“ _By not being lying, cheating, manipulative assholes like my parents were?”_

 

_Karolina hugged Nico tightly again. “That's a great place to start.”_

 

—O—

 

“It turned out to be a good day,” Nico admitted. “Because of my awesome wife.”

 

“Thank you,” Karolina said, turning her powers off and letting them settle back onto their feet. “Oof,” she groaned, as her weight once more settled in her spine, legs and feet. “I should probably sit down.”

 

“I'll help you to the table,” offered Nico.

 

“No, it's good. But if you wanted to go ahead and get my tea, that'd be wonderful. You'll probably be back at the table before I make it there.”

 

Nico gave Karolina a compassionate smile. “Anything for you, baby,” she said, then turned around and hurried toward the dining room and kitchen.

 

“Morning, Gert, Chase,” Nico said as she walked past the couple already seated at the table.

 

“Morning,” Chase replied cheerily.

 

“Fuck off,” Gert mumbled.

 

“Oooh, _someone's_ having a good morning, huh?” replied Nico, not bothered in the least.

 

“My fucking uterus is going to climb out and choke me to death with my own ovaries,” Gert groaned.

 

“Yeah, sounds painful,” added Nico as she made it into the kitchen. She raised her voice to make sure she could be heard as she called out, “You want me to make you anything? Or get you something?”

 

“Just make this period _stop_. It's kicked my ass since last night.”

 

“Hey, at least it's not your brain trying to kill you now, right?”

 

“GOD, Nico, stop trying to make me feel better. You suck at it.”

 

“You are doing better, though, Gert,” Chase said, rubbing his girlfriend's knee.

 

The purple-haired woman gave him a look of disbelief. “It's either that or die,” she said flatly.

 

“So, I'm glad you're not dead!” he replied, unfazed.

 

Gert finally gave him a weak smile. “Yeah. I'm glad I'm not dead, too. Thanks.”

 

The buzzing of Chase's phone pulled his attention to where it sat on the dining table. He lifted it up, saw it was his mother calling, then took the call. “Hey, Mom. What's up?”

 

After listening for a few seconds, Chase became disturbingly pale.

 

“Chase,” Gert said. “What's wrong?”

 

Chase swallowed. Sweat started to form on his forehead. “O-Okay,” he said, voice shaken. “Thanks for letting us know.”

 

“GUYS!” Gert yelled, getting everyone's attention. She was already getting thoughts of panic and worry from Chase. “Something's fucking going on!”

 

Nico hurried back into the dining room, holding a mug of black coffee for herself and a cup of hot tea for Karolina, who was still about halfway to the dining table. Alex and Molly came running in from their seats, passing on each side of Karolina. Old Lace came loping down the stairs, tail held straight out behind her.

 

“What's going on?” Nico asked, not liking Chase's pallor _at all._

 

“That... was my mom. PRIDE's sending a mercenary unit after us.” He looked at Nico. “Jonah's back. In my dad's body.”

 

“Good,” Nico said. “I'll make sure the son of a bitch stays dead this time.” She looked at Karolina. “I'm more worried about Karolina, though.”

 

“I'm more worried about a group of mercenaries!” Alex said, hotly. “A police strike team nearly took us out! Mercs have military-grade gear and stuff the cops don't carry!”

 

“They don't know where we are,” Molly said.

 

“Yes, they do,” Chase replied. “Or at least Jonah knows how to find us. Mom said Karolina's energy signal changes during labor. It intensifies to where other Majesdanians can detect it. That's what Jonah told PRIDE when he contacted them just now.”

 

“What?” Nico asked, her head snapping back to regard Chase. “Karolina's isn't _in_ labor.”

 

“ _NICO!!!”_

 

“Oh, fuck me,” Nico swore at the sound of Karolina's cry. She put the mugs down on the table, then ran into the main room.

 

“I-I think my water just broke,” Karolina said hurriedly.

 

Nico looked down, seeing a small, shallow puddle of clear fluid around Karolina's feet. “Oh, fuck,” she whispered, then she looked up at Karolina. “Fuck, Karolina! The baby's coming!”

 

“And Jonah's going to send a group of mercenaries, or maybe a missile or something like it, right to us!” Alex said, running into the main room, stopping just short of Nico. “Wow, your water really did break.”

 

“No shit,” Karolina and Nico both snapped at him simultaneously.

 

“We need to get you into the sanctum,” Nico said. “He shouldn't be able to track you there.”

 

Karolina nodded. “Get our labor bag.”

 

Nico ran up the stairs. “On it!”

 

“And we need to get Dr. Lindell!”

 

“On it!” Nico called out again, her voice muffled from being inside their room.

 

“I'll check our defenses,” Alex said. “Chase! Did your mom say when this attack was happening?”

 

“Sometime today. She said she tried to talk them out of it, but Alex's parents are out for blood. Specifically, ours, not his, but Mom's worried about all of us. Jonah did something to wake that thing in Stacey's head back up, too, so she's helping him.”

 

“And her drones,” Gert added. “Old Lace needs to stay inside, in case she tries to poison her again.”

 

_Lace not staying inside unless bond-human and packmate do as well!_

 

Wincing from the force of Lace's thought, Gert turned to the _Deinonychus_. “Lace, it's too dangerous. She almost killed us both when she poisoned you!”

 

_Not hiding when pack and nest are threatened!_ she replied, punctuating the thought with opening her mouth and hissing.

 

“God, you're as stubborn as I am,” Gert swore.

 

“At least this time we're better prepared in terms of defenses,” Chase said, looking at Alex.

 

“True that,” replied the other male Runaway. “And I have some countermeasures for those drones, too.”

 

The clomping of boots coming down the main stairs made everyone look to see Nico, fully dressed in a knee-length dress with black lace at the ends of her sleeves, around the collar and down the chest. Her makeup was intimidating with dark red around both eyes, lips a burgundy that was nearly black, hair pulled back into a high ponytail, and she was wearing a pair of loose-top soft black leather flat boots.

 

“That was getting ready quick,” Alex said.

 

“Magicked it,” Nico said, not slowing her approach. “As long as there are new fashion shows, I have easy spells for that.” She had a large bag slung over her shoulder and a second bag in her left hand; the Staff of One floated along behind her. She came to a halt directly in front of Karolina as the blonde suddenly groaned and bent forward.

 

“Fuck!” Karolina swore. “Con... trac... tion,” she gritted out between her teeth, as Nico dropped the bags (not in the amniotic fluid) and grabbed Karolina's hands to help steady her. The contraction lasted nearly fifteen seconds, and it left Karolina sweating when she was able to stand again.

 

“Well,” she said, face red. “That's progressing fast.”

 

“Yeah,” Nico said. “Real fast.”

 

She slipped her sling ring onto her finger and began sweeping her hand through the air in a circular motion to open the portal to the pocket dimension Doctor Strange had helped her set up to practice her magic. It also served as a fallback point and shelter for the Runaways should it ever be needed, so they had already moved a bed, nonperishable foods, a sofa and chairs, a table, clothes and other supplies into the pocket realm. The sanctum had a small water basin fed by a spring connected to Kamar-Taj, a hearth and wood to start and maintain fires, and a small privy that discreetly emptied into one of Los Angeles' sewage treatment plants (establishing _that_ one-way gate had not been fun for Nico).

 

Once the portal was open, glowing with violet runes, Nico widened it enough to walk through two at a time. She helped Karolina into the sanctum, which appeared as an enclosed chamber with smoothly cut stone walls, a small pool roughly two meters across, a fireplace and free-standing brazier, wall-mounted torches that never burned out or smoked, the bed, sofa, chairs, a table and a few other pieces of furniture arranged around the room.

 

Nico helped Karolina over to the sofa, taking care in case another contraction hit.

 

“I don't want to sit down,” Karolina said as they reached the couch. “Dr. Lindell said walking will help speed labor once it starts.”

 

“I'm going to get her,” Nico said. “Do you want someone to stay with you until I get back?”

 

Karolina nodded. “Please. Gert would be great.”

 

“You can put up with her for a few minutes?”

 

That made Karolina smile. “Yeah, I can.” She stopped taking as her face scrunched up.

 

Nico dropped to one knee and took Karolina's hand, letting her wife squeeze her hand (painfully) until the contraction passed. “Ow,” she muttered, flexing her fingers once Karolina let her go.

 

“Sorry,” the blonde gasped.

 

“You can't help it, baby,” Nico replied, leaning over to kiss Karolina's forehead. “I'll get the doctor and midwife and be right back.”

 

She stood and walked through the portal, leaving it open. “Hey Gert,” she said as she stepped back into the Hostel's main room. “You mind to stay with Kar until I get back with the doc and nurse?”

 

“Yeah, I can do that,” Gert said. “Lace and I can keep her company. I'm not going to be much help out here, anyway.”

 

“I have an idea,” Alex said, as Gert and Old Lace both stepped through the portal, Gert first, followed by Lace and her swishing tail.

 

Nico pulls the portal closed, then turns around. “Okay, but I need to hurry,” she said, trying to maintain her calm.

 

“You remember the backup bolthole we set up, further out in the desert? The Bunker?”

 

Nico nods. “Yeah. I've still got runes set to open portals there.”

 

“I think we should move Karolina out there, at least long enough for Jonah to put his crosshairs on it.”

 

Nico's lips curled back into an angry expression. “You want to use my wife and kid as _human targets?!_ What the FUCK, Alex?!”

 

“Not for long!” Alex said, holding his hands out in front of him as Nico took an angry step toward him. “Just... for a little bit. To give him a target that isn't close to here.”

 

“It's over a mile away, even farther away from town,” Chase said. “It's a risk, but it's a minimal risk. Getting a group of hired killers will take some time.”

 

“Unless he already has them ready,” Nico replied.

 

“ _And_ it would pull Jonah away from here,” Chase continued. “Who knows how long he's been feeling the surge in Karolina's energy? It might have been long enough that he's already pinpointed us as Ground Zero.”

 

“Look,” Alex said to Nico. He could tell she was still seething at his suggestion, and he knew he needed to keep his argument succinct. “This place is literally an abandoned mansion buried in an earthquake and landslide. But it's been our home for a year now. We don't have a lot. But THIS... This is ours.”

 

Nico closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Fuck Alex and his logic sometimes.

 

“This place has been our shelter. It's been our safe place. And none of us, Karolina included, wants to lose it.”

 

Nico sighed. “I'll ask her when I get back. Okay?”

 

Alex nodded. “If she doesn't want to do it, then we'll take our chances here. It's completely up to her.”

 

“I'll move her and stay with her when I get back,” Nico said, begrudgingly.

 

When Alex didn't move out of the way, Nico guessed there was more. “ _What_ , Alex?!”

 

“We need to do it now,” he said slowly. “The sooner, the better. Jonah could be hours away, or he could be minutes away. Chase and Molly can go with Karolina to watch out for her. You can leave the portals open so everyone can run back through at the first sign of trouble. Karolina knows how to close them, right?”

 

Nico nodded, trying to control her temper.

 

“I've got monitoring stations set up out there as well. It's just inside the military testing grounds, so that might give Jonah some second thoughts as well.”

 

“Or it might just let him hit the place with everything he's got, with no worry about collateral damage or witnesses,” Chase added.

 

“Chase,” Alex said, giving the taller man a look. “Not helping, man.”

 

Nico's heel of her right boot tapped up and down for several seconds, her expression unreadable. “Two conditions,” she finally said.

 

“Nico, we have to hurry!”

 

“TWO CONDITIONS!” Nico snapped.

 

Alex sighed. “What are they?”

 

“First, all of you are going to wear something I made.” She reached into one of the pockets of her dress and pulled out a handful of small amulets, each about the size of a bottle cap, with a thin chain threaded through them.

 

“These are bullet barrier charms,” Nico said. “I'll have to activate them with a drop of your blood, but they'll stop bullets and other high-speed projectiles... to an extent.”

 

“What's the extent?” asked Chase.

 

“A lot of bullets hitting close together is too much for the charm. A single bullet, you're good. Two kinda close together, should be okay. Full auto, it'll stop the first one or two, not the rest.”

 

“Better than nothing,” Chase said. “Thanks.”

 

“We've got some body armor we'll use as well,” added Alex.

 

“I don't need one,” said Molly.

 

“You're still getting one,” Nico replied.

 

“Why?!”

 

“Because your powers turn on and off. Because it's better to have more protection than you need than not enough.”

 

Molly sighed. “Fine.”

 

Nico released the Staff, which hovered beside her. She created a small portal for her to reach through, then pulled her athame out of her nightstand, followed by alcohol wipes.

 

“Clean your fingers off,” she said, handing each of the other three a wipe before closing the portal.

 

“Are you serious?!” Alex said. “Nico, there is NO TIME!”

 

“ _Wipe. Your. God. Damn. Fingers.”_

 

Alex held her stare for two seconds before backing down. “Alright! Alright!”

 

Nico turned to Chase. “Chase. Finger.”

 

Chase obediently held out his left hand, little finger. Nico pressed the tip of her athame against the skin, then touched the amulet to the blood drop that welled up. The amulet glowed with a soft purple light for a second before fading and looking innocuous again.

 

“Okay, put it on,” Nico said. “Alex.”

 

Alex offered his left hand, ring finger. Nico resisted the urge to jab his finger and instead lightly broke the surface of the skin, as she had done with Chase. His amulet also glowed when it touched his blood, returning to normal like Chase's.

 

“Okay, Mol.”

 

Molly held out her right hand, ring finger. Nico pressed the tip of the knife to her finger, but nothing happened.

 

She looked up into Molly's eyes. “Powers off, okay?”

 

“Were my eyes lit up?”

 

“I don't think so. But I want to keep you safe, okay? So focus on letting the knife poke your skin.”

 

Molly nodded, closing her eyes to concentrate. It still took more effort than with the others, but the knife's tip finally drew a drop of blood from Molly. Nico activated the amulet, then handed the amulet to Molly.

 

“I'll go get Karolina and Gert and Lace. I'll activate their barriers, too.”

 

She started opening the portal to the sanctum when Alex said, “Hey, what was the second condition?”

 

Nico looked over her shoulder toward Alex, still drawing a circle with her left hand to open the portal. “If anything happens to Karolina or the baby because of your plan, I'll fucking kill you,” she said, her face stony.

 

—O—

 

“Dr. Lindell!”

 

Alison Lindell stopped in the hallway outside one of the exam rooms. “What is it, Meredith?” she asked the nurse.

 

“It's Ms. Dean. Her wife says her water's broken, and she's gone into labor. She texted you on your cell phone.”

 

“Call Meghan. She's the nurse midwife on call today. Tell her to get her things together and that we'll be picking her up soon.” Alison made her way down the hallway of her practice's office, looking for one of her partners.

 

“June,” she asked one of the nurses that worked for other physicians in the practice. “I've got a home birth that's a priority. Can Sandra and Gail cover my afternoon?”

 

“I'll probably catch some hell over it, but they should able to make it work,” replied the older nurse.

 

Alison smiled. “Thank you. It's a first baby for these two, and they've paid extra to have Meghan and me both there.”

 

“I bet I know who you're talking about. The _really_ young lesbian couple? The tall blonde and the tiny brunette?”

 

“That's them. Sweet and cute. God, I remember when I was that young.”

 

“You know who the brunette is, right?” asked the nurse.

 

“A soon-to-be new mom who's probably freaking out?” Alison said, starting to walk down back down the hall to her office.

 

“No, actually—”

 

“You'll have to tell me later,” Dr. Lindell said, knowing full well who Nico Minoru Dean was—she watched the news, too—but continuing to smile at the nurse. “I have to get my stuff.”

 

She stopped at the closed door to her office, which made her pause. She always left her office door open. Confused, she opened the door and went inside, then had to catch herself to keep from crying out when she saw the very same Nico Minoru Dean sitting in one of the chairs in her office.

 

“Oh my god!” said Alison, clutching her chest. “You scared me to death!”

 

“Sorry,” Nico said softly, and despite her dark clothes and makeup, she looked so young at that moment. “I just want to get you and the midwife and get back to Karolina. Things are about to get kind of fucked-up, and I want to get her and you someplace safe.”

 

Alison started moving around her office, getting her phone, her keys, her purse and the medical bag she had packed three weeks ago. “I have all I need here,” she said, gathering her things.

 

“Kick-ass,” Nico said calmly. “Who else are we getting?” She pulled out her phone and texted Gert for an update on Karolina, then Chase to get an update on the overall situation. She was still mad at Alex, even though his idea was a logical one.

 

“Meghan Yost is the nurse midwife on call. We'll have to get her. I gave her one of those little coin things like you asked.”

 

“Great,” Nico said, feeling a bit better with Gert and Chase both quickly replying that things were about the same. Karolina was having contractions, but they hadn't progressed much, and there were no signs of activity around the Hostel or the Bunker. “Those give me something to focus on when I'm making my portals. That's how I got here.”

 

“Portals?”

 

Nico grinned. “Yeah. Portals.”

 

—O—

 

When familiar purple runes formed in the air, Karolina felt a touch of relief. The purple runes grew into a glowing circle, accompanied by a sawing noise with violet sparks falling from the circular outline that was forming in the air. The center of the glowing circle vanished, revealing what looked like a home on the other side. The portal widened, then Dr. Lindell stepped through, followed by one of the nurse midwives. Both of them looked dumbfounded as they looked around the dusty concrete bunker, an old abandoned observation station from the days of the Cold War.

 

“Oh my god, is this where you two live?” asked Dr. Lindell, shocked.

 

“No, this is— You know, it's a long story,” Nico said.

 

“Nico,” Karolina said, whimpering a bit.

 

Immediately Nico released the Staff of One, which patiently followed its master when she ran over to where Karolina was lying down on the simple twin bed. It was too short for the blonde, and Nico immediately felt like an ass when she saw Karolina's feet poking over the foot of the bed. She grabbed the Staff. _“Make this bed fit Karolina!”_ she said.

 

The bed glowed as it lengthened, widened and shifted to better accommodate the blonde.

 

“I'm so sorry, baby,” Nico said softly, pressing kisses to Karolina's sweaty forehead.

 

“It's okay,” replied the blonde, sniffling a bit. “Missed you.”

 

“I missed you too. I was so worried.”

 

“We'll be okay. Just hurts.”

 

Nico nodded. She saw Karolina's face tighten and took her wife's right hand. “Go ahead and squeeze, Kar. Just don't break my hand please.”

 

Karolina groaned as the contraction built, tightening and squeezing her abdomen and pelvis for a good twenty seconds before she felt the burning pain start to ebb. “They're getting closer,” she managed to gasp.

 

“That's good,” Nico replied, moving her right hand behind her back to shake out the pain where Karolina couldn't see. “That means we get to meet our baby girl soon.”

 

Karolina looked at Nico, her blue eyes wide, and a smile flashed through her pain. “God, I can't wait,” she said, a bit breathlessly. “I hope she looks like you.”

 

“I hope she looks like you. One of us needing a step stool is enough.”

 

Karolina laughed, and that made Nico smile, to ease her wife's pain even for a few seconds.

 

Alison and Meghan looked on at the sight, familiar in its most basic, but utterly unlike anything else they had seen in other ways.

 

“Hi,” said a purple-haired woman who stepped into view from behind them. “I'm Gert, a friend of theirs. Well, we're actually family, though we're not exactly related.”

 

Alison held out her hand, which Gert politely shook. “Dr. Alison Lindell.”

 

“Meghan Yost,” said Meghan. “Nurse midwife. We're colleagues.”

 

“Nico and Karolina brag on your practice all the time. When my boyfriend and I decide to have kids, if we ever do, we'll use you, if that's okay.” The other two women politely nodded.

 

Gert smiled. “Oh, yeah. Don't freak out or scream when you meet Old Lace, okay? She won't bite you.”

 

“Oh, you have a dog?” asked Meghan, who was a huge animal lover.

 

Gert's smile turned into a grin. “Not... exactly.”

 

Nico was entirely focused on Karolina when she held a soft yelp behind her. That was followed by a low grunt and a snuffling noise. “I think the doc and Meghan just met Old Lace,” she said quietly, tucking Karolina's loose hair that had fallen over her face back behind her ear.

 

“They're going to be traumatized,” Karolina said, smiling softly.

 

“Maybe. That's why we paid them a lot extra.”

 

“True.” Karolina reached over and grasped the back of Nico's neck, sliding her fingers up behind her wife's head to hold her tenderly. “I'm so happy right now,” she said, blinking back tears.

 

“Because you're having labor contractions?” asked Nico, a bit confused.

 

Karolina laughed again, weakly. “Yes and no. It hurts _like a bitch_ , but it means we're about to have our first daughter. It means I'm going to give you a _child_ , Nico. Oh my god, I've _so_ looked forward to this day!”

 

Nico pressed a kiss to Karolina's forehead, then to her lips.

 

“I brushed my teeth while you were gone,” Karolina said proudly. She lifted her head to kiss Nico more deeply, but she quickly had to pull her head back as felt another contraction begin.

 

“Sorry,” she hissed out as her teeth clenched. “Didn't... want to...” she struggled to get out, “Bite your... tongue... off,” she ended with a gasp.

 

“Thanks for that,” Nico replied as she felt Karolina's body relax again. “I like being able to talk. And bitch about things.”

 

“I was thinking of other things you can do with that tongue,” Karolina said, giving her wife a sly smile. “Things you do _really_ well.”

 

“Are you seriously thinking about sex right now?” asked Nico, lowering her voice slightly.

 

Karolina gave the jet-haired woman a look that meant that, _Yes, I really am thinking about sex right now._ “It can speed up labor,” she said.

 

“We kind of have an audience. And we need to get you into the sanctum soon, before the shit hits the fan. But we might give it a try after while, okay? I can come up with some privacy spells.”

 

Karolina beamed. “Okay.”

 

“You think you can hover long enough to get through a portal to the sanctum?”

 

“If we time it right, sure. Maybe after the next contraction or two?”

 

“Okay, that works. I'll just take you directly there. Asshole should have gotten a fix on this position by now. If not, then he's too fucking stupid to be an issue.”

 

“You know he's...” Her voice trailed off as another contraction hit.

 

Alison and Meghan made their way over to the bed with Karolina and where Nico sat in the chair beside the bed.

 

“They have a _dinosaur_ ,” whispered Meghan to Alison. “Holy. Shit.”

 

“How far apart are the contractions?” asked Alison.

 

“It's been about three or four minutes,” Gert answered.

 

“These last ones have felt more like two minutes between them,” Nico said.

 

“We'll time them,” Alison said, readying her watch.

 

“Did you know they had a dinosaur?” whispered Meghan.

 

Alison grinned and shook her head. “No. They didn't tell me that. I just knew that they were superheroes, and teenagers.”

 

“Contraction,” Karolina gasped, clenching Nico's hand.

 

Alison and Meghan both checked their watches, marking the start and then timing the length of the contraction, which lasted for over thirty seconds.

 

“Shit,” Karolina swore. “That one _sucked_.”

 

“Felt like it,” Nico muttered.

 

“I'm sorry about your hand,” Karolina said, trying not to cry. “I'm sorry I'm so strong.”

 

“Hey,” Nico said, leaning over. “Don't apologize for being strong. Or for having contractions. You're having a _baby_ , for fuck's sake. I'll stop bitching about my hand. If it gets hurt, it'll heal. I promise. I'm here for _you_ , Kar. My hand is yours to crush.”

 

The blonde laughed, her eyes twinkling as she looked up into Nico's eyes, almost black in the dimly lit bunker. “I'm glad you're here,” she said. “With me. For this.”

 

“I'm not leaving you until this baby's born. I swear.”

 

“If they need you...”

 

“They won't.”

 

“I'm just saying...”

 

Nico nodded. “I know. But I don't want to miss this. Any of this.”

 

“I don't want you to either,” Karolina admitted.

 

“You want to try to move to the sanctum after this next contraction? You going to be okay?”

 

Karolina nodded. “I can do it.”

 

“Are we going somewhere else?” asked Meghan.

 

“We need to move Karolina and all of you to a safer place. We've got a group of mercenaries that are coming to hit this location sometime in the next few hours. We think.”

 

Meghan turned to look at Dr. Lindell, who just mouthed the word _superheroes_.

 

“Starting,” Karolina said with a gasp. She squeezed Nico's hand again as the contraction quickly built in intensity, going what felt like minutes but was really about thirty seconds.

 

“Two minutes apart,” Alison said. “Getting there, Karolina. How are you feeling?”

 

“You can ask me in a minute,” the sweaty blonde said. “We need to move to the sanctum.”

 

“On it,” Nico said, already pushing out of the chair and starting to open the portal.

 

“Karolina, we'll help you up, okay?” Alison said as Meghan moved the chair out of the way.

 

The blonde shook her head as she sat up, with considerable effort. “No, I'm okay.”

 

“We can at least steady you while you walk.”

 

Karolina's body bloomed into brilliant pink and purple light. “Thanks, but I'm not walking.” She smiled as she floated up to a standing position, then over to where Nico was widening the portal to the sanctum.

 

“Watch your step,” Nico said as Karolina floated over. “Please keep hands, feet and infants inside the car at all times.”

 

Nico stepped through the portal, reaching back for Karolina. She took her wife's hand and pulled her through, her own feet starting to lift off the ground in Karolina's light. “Let's get you over to this bed, okay?”

 

“Okay,” the blonde replied, steering them over to the king-size bed they had set up in the sanctum.

 

Gert led Dr. Lindell and Meghan through the portal, stopping instead of going through herself. “I need to check on Molly and the guys,” she said. “My psychic stuff is still kind of screwy, but it might be helpful at giving us some warning.”

 

“You guys moving to the bunker?” asked Nico. “Come on through. We've got the dedicated portal to the Hostel.”

 

“Oh, yeah,” Gert said, stepping through, then waiting for Lace.

 

Once everyone was inside, Nico closed that portal, then went to check on Karolina. “You okay, hon?” she asked her wife, taking her hand.

 

Karolina looked up from where she had settled onto the bed. Her glow faded, revealing her human form once more. “I'm good for now,” she said. “Now that you're with me.”

 

“How does this portal thingy work?” Gert called out. She was standing on the other side of the sanctum, staring at a glowing violet rune floating in the air at chest-level.

 

“You think about the Hostel and touch the rune,” Nico said, turning to look at Gert but not releasing Karolina's hand. “It's attuned to each of us, so any of us can activate it.”

 

As Gert did just that, the rune flared brighter, then opened into a portal roughly two meters in diameter. “How about that,” Gert said sardonically.

 

“Gert!” Molly said, running over to the portal where it opened into the Hostel. “Hey Nico, Karolina!” she said, waving. “Hi strange people I don't know!” she added, waving to Alison and Meghan as well.

 

“Hey, Molly,” Nico said, with Karolina waving as well as offering a, “Hey, Mol!”

 

“Still no sign of activity,” Alex said looking through the portal but not entering. “We'll let you know if anything happens.”

 

“Okay,” Nico said. “If... you need me...”

 

“We'll handle it,” Alex said. “Your place is with Karolina, and with your baby. Nothing's going to interrupt that.”

 

“Thanks,” Nico said, earnestly. “Try not to die. Any of you.”

 

“We've got some surprises for them,” Alex said. “We'll hold things down.”

 

“Let us know when the baby's here!” Molly said eagerly.

 

“Will do,” Nico said, giving the baby of the family—who wasn't a baby at all—a smile.

 

Gert waved, then turned and stepped through into the Hostel with Lace following her. Chase met her with a hug and kiss, then he playfully dipped her backward, getting a soft yelp and smack on his shoulder.

 

Molly reached up and waved her hand through the runes glowing around the portal, disrupting the door and closing the portal. Inside the sanctum, the opening collapsed back into the permanent rune Doctor Strange had helped Nico install; on the Hostel side, the rune was invisible but still present in the main room.

 

“Before you ask, Molly's parents are dead,” Nico said, turning to look at the doctor and midwife. “She's fifteen. We're her legal guardians now. It was Gert's parents, but after some shit last year, she filed to have their guardianship terminated and transferred to Gert, her big sister. So you don't need to report anything to Children's Services.” Seeing the knowing looks on the faces of the health care workers, Nico gives them a caustic smile. “We've had people try to 'help us' before. It never ends well. Not when our parents are fucking psychopaths.”

 

“Is that what happened to your parents?” asks Alison, and she's surprised that someone would dare to ask that loaded a question before she realized she's the one who spoke.

 

Suddenly Nico looks old, much older than her eighteen years. She nodded, mumbled, “Yeah, pretty much,” then sat down as Karolina started another contraction. “What happened to them, that's on my mom.”

 

Nothing was said for a few minutes, enough time for Karolina's contraction to fade, then the next one to come and go.

 

“Karolina,” Alison said. “We should check to see how dilated your cervix is.”

 

“Okay,” Karolina says, already sore and tired, and she knows she could still have hours and hours of labor to go.

 

She can do this for Nico. She can do this for their daughter.

 

“Have you two picked a name yet?”

 

Nico turns to look at Meghan, whom she's only met a few times, compared to Dr. Lindell, who was there for nearly every one of Karolina's appointments. “Yeah. We have.” She smiles, then looks down at Karolina, whose smile blows Nico's away.

 

“She's going to be so cute,” the blonde says.

 

“Maybe she'll have your looks and my attitude. That'd be a fun combination.”

 

“Or your looks and _my_ attitude. Then everyone would fall at her feet.”

 

“Karolina?” asked Dr. Lindell. “Can you and Nico get your pajama pants off so I can check your cervix after the next contraction?”

 

“Yeah, sure,” Karolina said, meeting Nico's upset eyes. “She's our doctor, sweetheart.”

 

“It's still somebody else's finger in you,” Nico grumbled.

 

“For a very good medical reason,” countered the blonde. “We deal with it. Right?”

 

“Yeah, I know. I just don't have to like it.” She turned to the doctor. “No offense.”

 

Alison smiled. “None taken. You two are very protective of each other, and that's wonderful.” She had a single sterile glove ready to open. She and Meghan turned away as Nico helped Karolina pull the sleep pants down and off, then readjust the covers.

 

Karolina reached up and laid her hand on Nico's cheek. “Nico, hon, I really appreciate you protecting my modesty, but I'm pretty sure that by the time this is over, Dr. Lindell and Meghan are going to have seen all that I've got.”

 

Nico closed her eyes and tried not to audibly grumble. When Karolina sat up and pressed her lips to Nico's cheek, that helped.

 

“God, you're so cute when you're all protective,” the blonde said with an airy laugh. She sucked in a breath as the next contraction began, pulling Nico's attention away from pouting as she focused on her wife again.

 

—O—

 

It was nearly three hours, numerous contractions that were coming thirty seconds apart, and nine centimeters of cervical dilation later when Nico's phone buzzed.

 

She pulled the phone from her pocket and checked the message.

 

_**Jockstrap:** They're close to the Bunker. Gert can feel them. Lots of them._

 

Nico looked up, meeting concerned blue eyes. “They're there. Chase says Gert can sense them.”

 

Before Karolina could answer, the phone buzzed again.

 

_**Jockstrap:** We've got this. Stay with Karolina. We'll hold them off._

 

Nico quickly tapped a reply that it was getting close, then put the phone back up. “I hope they can do it,” she said.

 

“They've got body armor, Old Lace, the Fistigons, Alex's guns and Molly. And Gert's telepathy.” Karolina's face was messy, hair sweaty and sticky, her shirt clinging to her chest in several places, but she had a raw vitality to her that Nico found gorgeous. “And Alex and Chase have been rigging up traps for months.”

 

She paused as another contraction rode up and through her body, making her have to purposefully breathe as Nico tried to coach her through the worsening pain. When it was over, Karolina leaned back against the pillows Nico had propped up against the headboard of the bed, gasping.

 

“But most of those are around the Hostel,” Nico replied. “They do have all those drones Alex reprogrammed, though. And he was working on some way to jam the ones Stacey and Dale use.”

 

“It's Jonah I'm worried about,” Karolina said. “You and I are the only ones who've really practiced on taking him down. Well, as much as we _could_ practice it.”

 

“If by practice you mean, brainstorm and toss some ideas back and forth, I guess,” Nico said, getting a smile out of a tired Karolina.

 

“We'll go help them once our little girl's born.”

 

Nico's curved eyebrows shot nearly to the middle of her forehead. “Excuse me? You've having a baby, Kar. You won't need to be doing _anything_ but trying to recover and hold our little bundle of attitude.”

 

“I don't want you to fight him by yourself,” the blonde said carefully. “We work really well together.”

 

Nico's look of surprise shifted into a soft, honest smile, one of the ones that made Karolina's heart soar when she saw it, because she knew that no one, absolutely _no one_ , but her ever got to see Nico be that open and vulnerable.

 

“Yeah,” Nico said, lifting Karolina's hand and kissing it. “We really do.”

 

—O—

 

Less than an hour later, Karolina was pushing, because Nico was yelling in her ear, the doctor and midwife were telling her to push, and it felt like she was trying to force a grapefruit out of a vagina that in _no way_ could have been designed with such a purpose in mind.

 

“Oh fuck, Kar, fuck, you're _doing it!”_ Nico said, “You're doing it!”

 

“I KNOW I'M DOING IT! I'M THE ONE WHO'S FUCKING DOING IT!”

 

“Sorry, baby, but, Goddess, it's, it's...”

 

Karolina's scream wasn't pleasant or really even intelligible, but Nico didn't care. Her left hand might be broken, but she didn't care. Her makeup was gone, her dress and accessories laid across the back of a nearby chair. Now she was just wearing one of Karolina's cut-off shirts and a pair of her own black shorts.

 

“You're doing great, Karolina,” Meghan said, working swiftly and smoothly at stretching Karolina's vaginal opening to try and prevent tearing. “I can see her head, by the way.”

 

Karolina flopped onto her back on the bed. The pillows were gone, and she had moved farther down into the bed. Nico had moved onto the bed to be closer to Karolina. In their current position, she could have straddled Karolina's head, but her main focus was moving up behind her wife when Karolina sat up and helping hold and support her as much as possible.

 

“She's almost here,” Nico said, looking down at Karolina's red, sweaty face.

 

“Thank fucking _god_ ,” the blonde swore. “This _hurts._ ”

 

“Okay, Karolina, start getting ready,” said Dr. Lindell, looking up over Karolina's stomach from where she was helping Meghan. “We need a few more good pushes.”

 

Karolina struggled up onto her elbows; Nico slid forward and bolstered Karolina's body, her right hand on Karolina's right hip and her left being used like a therapeutic squeeze toy by the blonde.

 

Nico threaded the fingers of her left hand through Karolina's; she was hoping that might mitigate some of the pain to her poor hand while still giving Karolina something to squeeze.

 

“Okay, Karolina,” Meghan said. “Ready... PUSH.”

 

Nico gritted her teeth and started counting up from one, slowly, while Karolina pushed with every muscle in her body, crying out through the pain, until Nico hit ten.

 

“Her head's here,” Meghan said, hurriedly trying to finish stretching Karolina as much as she could as the baby started to crown.

 

“I've got everything ready,” Alison said, hovering beside and behind Meghan. An assortment of blankets, tools, metal bowls, suction bulbs and other items had been carefully set up in a sterile field on a portable table.

 

“Okay,” Meghan said. “Karolina, you've done great. It looks like just a few more pushes, okay?”

 

Karolina nodded and leaned back, too drained to speak.

 

Nico leaned over and pressed her lips to Karolina's sweaty temple. “I am so fucking proud of you,” she said softly, and the words made Karolina's chest shake with sobs. “I mean it,” Nico continued. “I have never seen anything so strong, so incredible, as what you've done for the last few hours.”

 

“PUSH, Karolina!”

 

Karolina squeezed Nico's hand and bore down with everything she had left.

 

“You're doing it, baby!” Nico murmured. “You're doing it! You can do this!”

 

“OH FUCCKKK!” Karolina screamed, the pain so beyond severe that she was starting to go numb below her belly button.

 

“Her head's out!” Meghan called out.

 

“I'm ready,” Alison said to her colleague.

 

“Her head's out, baby!” Nico said, running the fingers of her right hand through Karolina's sweaty hair, then kissing the back of Karolina's neck. “She's almost here. You've got this, Kar, you've got this!”

 

Karolina nodded. It was so close, so close.

 

“Last time, Karolina. PUSH!”

 

Karolina pushed with everything and then some. She screamed as she felt the burning pain in her pelvis flare, then abruptly drop off, leaving only a seething numb sensation where her lower body used to be.

 

“She's out! She's out! You did it, Karolina!”

 

Meghan and Alison quickly began working as Nico moved to let Karolina drop back onto the bed. (It was that or get crushed.) Nico leaned over her dirty, sweaty, exhausted wife and cried and laughed as Karolina did the same.

 

“Fuck, Kar, you did it!” Nico said. “Oh, baby, you _did it!_ You had our baby!”

 

“I want to see her,” Karolina said, her pupils so wide and black that only thinnest rim of blue could be seen around them. “God, I want to see her! I want to hold her!”

 

As Nico helped Karolina back up, she moved the pillows down and piled them behind Karolina, then she slid beside the bedraggled blonde. “They're getting her, Kar, they're getting her,” Nico said. “I want to see her too.”

 

The wet cries of a newborn rang out in the stone chamber, and that opened the floodgates for both Karolina's and Nico's tears.

 

Nico hugged Karolina; the two kissed on the lips, ignoring how sweaty both of them had become by now. “Hey Kar,” Nico said, smiling as she stared into her wife's eyes.

 

“Hey what?” replied the blonde, whose heart was now hammering with adrenaline and endorphins. She was flying on a physiologic high that would last for a few hours, and trading excruciating pain for severe but relatively tolerable pain made her feel even better.

 

“We, _you_ and _me_ , have a baby girl,” Nico said, and the jet-haired witch giggled.

 

Nico Minoru Dean giggled. For at least the second time in a year.

 

“Do the new mommies want to hold their new baby?” said Alison, moving up along the side of the bed and carrying what looked like a baby burrito, wrapped in a soft blue blanket.

 

“Karolina, just try to stay where you are for a bit longer, okay?” Meghan said from her position between Karolina's legs, moving towels and pads up to the blonde's new position. “We still have the placenta to deliver, but you're probably not even going to feel it after that, okay?”

 

“Okay,” Karolina replied automatically, but her attention was fully on the pink face that was visible in the bundle of blankets. “Oh god, oh god, she's so fucking adorable,” Karolina swore giddily. “Her hair's black! Like your hair!”

 

Nico wiped at her bare face, jaw trembling too much to speak just yet, overcome with the sight of their child.

 

“I'm going to lay her right on your chest, okay Karolina? It'll help warm her up, and it's good for you and Nico too, to be as close as you can to her right now.”

 

Karolina nodded, reaching for the baby. Alison carefully laid the baby on Karolina's chest; the movement startled the infant into crying again as her bare chest rested against Karolina's shirt.

 

“Your milk's going to come in,” Alison said. “You can go ahead and feed her.”

 

Karolina felt the warmth of the newborn baby on her chest and relished it. Then a tingling sensation, followed immediately by a fullness deep in her breasts, rushed over her. She looked over to Nico, whose face was streaked with tears, her eyes glistening and wide, totally enraptured by the tiny life on Karolina's chest. “Hold her for a minute, Nico,” Karolina said.

 

“Fuck, Kar, I—” Nico stammered, only to have the baby pressed into her arms. She managed to orient the small head, crowned with thin, wispy black hair, in the crook of her left elbow to support the baby, who was now crying forcefully.

 

“She's got your attitude,” Karolina said with a grin as she shucked her shirt completely off, tossing it on the floor next to the bed; at this point, modesty was worthless.

 

“Goddess help us all,” Nico mumbled, the grin fixed on her face despite the baby's cries. “Hi, baby girl,” she said. “We're so happy to see you.”

 

“Okay, hand her to me, hon, before I start spraying milk.”

 

“I don't think that's how it works,” Nico said, laughing as she carefully moved the fussing infant back to Karolina's chest.

 

“It's pretty easy,” said Meghan, who had apparently replaced Dr. Lindell beside them in the last few minutes. “Just brush your nipple against her lips, and she'll—” She smiled as the baby latched on, not quite on-target at first, finally getting a good grip on the nipple after Karolina adjusted her head position. “There you go. Just remember to really support her head for the first few months, because her neck muscles aren't strong enough to support it yet.”

 

Nico watched with amazement as the tiny little creature made an irritable face, but the little cheeks and mouth were now readily sucking away. She lightly ran her fingers over the little strands of hair, the baby's head still a bit misshapen from the delivery. “You're so beautiful,” Nico said dreamily, looking first at her daughter, then at her wife. “Both of you,” she added.

 

Karolina beamed as she looked up and met Nico's face. She leaned over and kissed her wife, then looked back down at their child.

 

“Persephone Dean,” Karolina said proudly. “Welcome to the world, baby girl.”

 

—O—

 

Nico took a minute to bask in the splendor of watching Karolina feed their child. It was incredible, more wonderful than almost any sight she had ever seen, and she had seen quite a bit, despite her age.

 

“Going to check their status,” she said quietly, so as not to disturb Persephone.

 

“Okay,” Karolina replied, looking up at her wife. “I love you,” she said. “I'm so happy right now.”

 

“I am too,” replied Nico, kissing Karolina on the head before carefully slipping out of the bed on the other side.

 

“Is everything okay?” she asked the midwife and doctor, both of whom seemed to be working around Karolina's vagina, as she picked up her burner phone.

 

“She's fine, just some bleeding,” Dr. Lindell said as she was swabbing something inside Karolina. “It's nothing drastic. We'll get it stopped. The placenta's already out.”

 

Nico turned and looked at Karolina, who did look a bit pale. “Sunlight helps her heal. I can help with that.”

 

She pulled up her messages as she reached for the Staff of One, which flew to her hand. No messages had been received.

 

When she and Doctor Strange built her sanctum, Nico had used the Staff to create a mystic cell signal booster, to ensure that the others could communicate with her while she was in the sanctum. A quick check with her growing mystic senses indicated the signal booster was still active, so any messages should have gotten through.

 

She called Gert. After a moment to make the connection, the phone went straight to voice mail.

 

She ended the call, then dialed Alex. It rang four times, then went to voice mail.

 

Getting a bad feeling, she dialed Molly. It rang twice, then went to voice mail.

 

“Shit!” she swore, drawing everyone's attention.

 

“Nico?” Karolina asked, concerned.

 

“No one's answering, and we've not gotten any status reports.”

 

“They're being jammed?”

 

“That'd be my thought as well, but I thought this signal booster might penetrate jamming.”

 

“But you don't know that—OW!” Karolina said, wincing and looking down at the baby. “You just pinched my nipple with your mouth!”

 

“She's trying to tell you to switch sides,” Nico said, trying not to laugh as the funny moment temporarily assuaged her worry.

 

“You might want to burp her,” Meghan said. “Here, I'll help. You'll want a towel.”

 

“I'm going to check,” said Nico.

 

“Honey...”

 

“I just kind of have a bad feeling, Kar. And you've got really, really important stuff to do right here. Like, stop bleeding. Oh! That reminds me.”

 

She lifted the Staff, angled slightly toward Karolina. _“Solar supercharger!”_

 

A sphere manifested in the high ceiling of the sanctum, glowing a bright yellow-orange. A beam of the same light emerged, bathing Karolina and Persephone in its light.

 

“We don't know how she'll handle the light, Nico. She's only a quarter Majesdanian.”

 

“We can cover her up,” Meghan said. She had just laid a towel over Karolina's shoulder while she was trying to burp Persephone, and she easily draped another thin towel over the infant.

 

Nico walked over and kissed Karolina on the side of the head, then she moved slightly and pressed a kiss to Persephone's head as well. “I love you, my girls,” she said.

 

“We love you too, Other Mommy!” said Karolina, lifting Persephone's tiny arm and hand and waving to Nico.

 

“You're such a cute little shit,” Nico said, unable to keep from smiling as she stepped back, giving herself a bit more room.

 

“ _Instachange for showdown with Jonah!”_ Nico said firmly; a flash of light and she was dressed in a black silk dress styled like a stereotypical witch costume, short skirt, low-cut top, mid-length wide sleeves. A black headband held her pulled-back hair, which was flowing long down her upper back, while a necklace displayed a glowing pentacle charm. Silver bracelets were over both wrists, and a dark brown leather belt wrapped around her waist. Her legs were in black fine mesh stockings, with low-cut boots on her feet.

 

“Turn your phone on, hon,” Karolina said. “Leave the connection open. You don't know what you're going into out there.”

 

Nico nodded. That was a good idea. She quickly dialed Karolina's number, handing Karolina her phone so she could answer the call. “I'll gate out to a neutral site instead of the Hostel or the Bunker.”

 

“Okay. Be careful, hon.”

 

“I'll do my best.”

 

Nico turned and spun her arm in a circle, cutting a gateway through space and dimensions, then stepped through into the bright desert sun before closing the portal.

 

She stepped out onto the side of a smaller mountain, a few hundred meters from the bunker but at a higher elevation. She had found this spot while practicing with the sling ring, and she and Karolina had come out here at times when they wanted some peace. Since she was familiar with it, the site remained an easy place for her to find when her emotions were high.

 

Like now.

 

Two columns of black smoke were rising to the sky from down below. One of them was in front of the bunker, and it looked like the wreckage of several vehicles was creating the great plume of black smoke. The second column was coming from the Bunker itself. Or what was left of it. At least sixty or seventy armed men in desert fatigues swarmed the area around the Bunker, with over a dozen vehicles spaced out in the valley below and more on a bluff on the other side.

 

“Oh fuck,” Nico swore.

 

“ _Nico? What do you see?”_

 

Karolina's voice came through the phone, but Nico's growing dread meant she didn't hear her wife through the tiny earpiece of the phone with it tucked into her belt.

 

“ _Palantir,”_ Nico said, and as the scrying spell she was visualizing manifested, she found herself wishing she could take it back.

 

Gert lay motionless on a small hill, face down, shot to death trying to shield a similarly bullet-riddled Old Lace. The bodies of several men in combat fatigues surrounded them, most of them ripped apart and dying or dead.

 

Alex lay crumpled in a ball, head in a pool of his own blood, two meters away from his father. Geoffrey Wilder was likewise dead, shot to death by Alex before Catherine Wilder executed her son.

 

Chase's body was smoldering from the missile that had hit the bunker. The wreckage of several light-attack vehicles was nearby, blasted to pieces from energy bolts before one of the attack helicopters had destroyed the bunker, killing Chase as he bought the others time to run.

 

Molly's body was being dragged between two mercenaries carrying assault rifles, pulling her away from a field of burning, destroyed vehicles, including two light tanks. Blood soaked the front of Molly's shirt and shorts from where she had suffocated on her own blood after being targeted with the caustic gas grenades Not-Stacey had designed.

 

“ _NO!!!”_ Nico screamed, loud enough to echo across the scrub plains below her.

 

Immediately she saw movement in multiple places below, on the valley floor. Men started shouting, engines revved to life, and the rapid movements of the people down below looked not unlike an angry ant hive that had been kicked open. The buzz of drones was barely audible, but it was there.

 

“ _You're not shutting me up today!”_ she said angrily, and she felt the Staff's magic insulate her from any more brain scramblers.

 

—O—

 

Nearly half a mile away, Jonah/Victor looked through his binoculars at the source of the scream. “Finally,” he said, as Not-Stacey stood behind him. “It's the witch.”

 

“I'll hit her with the gas. I already have scramblers on multiple drones as a precaution.”

 

“Fine. Hit her quickly.”

 

“Do you want her alive or dead?”

 

“Dead. She's too dangerous, even if she's a child. That Staff is one of the few things on this pathetic planet that genuinely concerns me.”

 

Jonah/Victor turned to an older man in desert fatigues beside him. “Bring the helicopters back in. Hit her position from a distance. And move ground support closer. Once we kill this one, my daughter won't be able to hide. She has a _thing_ for this human.”

 

The commander of the Hell's Rejects mercenary unit hesitated momentarily, until a stern look from Jonah/Victor overcame his reluctance. “Viper One and Two, we have a new target for you.”

 

—O—

 

Nico saw vehicles similar to small dune buggies and Humvees start moving in her direction, dust trails flying up behind their spinning wheels. And the buzzing of the drones was getting even louder.

 

“ _Typhoon season in the desert!”_ she shouted, holding the Staff high.

 

Instantly the sky grew dark, a green-gray color that wiped the sun from the sky. Then the hurricane-force winds swept past Nico, fluttering her dress and sleeves in the direction of the attackers before blasting down the small mountain and across the valley, bringing a wall of pounding rain with it.

 

The drones never stood a chance against the Force-five gale. They were torn apart almost instantly, the lethal gas rapidly diluted and dispersed in the deluge that now struck the approaching ground forces. The light attack vehicles were swept up and sent tumbling backwards; the larger Humvees strained to gain any ground as the pounding downpour turned the ground into mud almost instantly.

 

The pounding of helicopter blades drew Nico's attention to the south, where the valley stretched out and ran for miles. She saw two dark specks in the sky, and she smiled.

 

“ _MOTHER OF DRAGONS!”_

 

—O—

 

The two Apache helicopters roared over the desert terrain, closing quickly.

 

“Viper Two, almost in range.”

 

“Copy, Two. Wait, new contact, moving fast.”

 

“What the hel—”

 

—O—

 

As the long, sinuous green-scaled dragon incinerated the first helicopter with a lightning bolt from its maw, Nico smiled grimly.

 

Two other dragons flew through the desert sky, one a dull red, the other a silver-blue, their wingless serpentine bodies undulating as they swam through the storm, unhindered by the rain and screaming wind.

 

Viper One opened up with the M230 chain gun mounted under the nose of the craft. The powerful 30mm shells struck the first dragon, tearing chunks from its side and sending it howling upward, slithering out of the cannon's deadly spray.

 

That let the other two dragons combine to destroy the second helicopter, one spraying a yellow-green fire that burned despite the downpour, the other unleashing another bolt of lightning. When the two attacks met at the helicopter, the explosion was incredible.

 

—O—

 

“Call in the rest of the air support. All of it.”

 

This time the mercenary commander, drenched from the torrential rains, didn't hesitate.

 

—O—

 

Nico's chest was pounding, a metallic taste of acid saturated her mouth and her arms and legs were cramping from the strain of maintaining three spells, two of which were among the largest she had ever sustained.

 

It wasn't enough. She was feeding her pain to the Staff, and that helped, but this wasn't going to be enough to beat Jonah.

 

The dark green dragon descended out of the storm clouds like a swimming snake, and as it approached the ground, it unleashed its energy breath, this time a shimmering, crackling electrical plasma that reduced men and machines alike to ash as it swept across the mercenaries stuck on the desert floor.

 

Her other two dragons were engaging the other helicopters, three more Apaches that were more prepared than the first pair but still encountered problems with fighting creatures more maneuverable than them in the sky.

 

—O—

 

“Why aren't your scramblers working?!” Jonah/Victor shouted at Not-Stacey.

 

“They are! They _were_ , before they were destroyed!”

 

“Dammit. She's progressed more than I had expected. Then we're going to have to overload her. Tina could only sustain a few spells at a time, and this girl's got to be close to her limit.”

 

He turned to the troop commander. “If you have any ground-to-air missiles, use them. If we can't take the witch down, she'll pick your men to pieces.”

 

—O—

 

The first impact of bullets slamming into the ground around and behind her was Nico's first clue that her attackers' tactics had changed. Her bullet barrier, carried in her pocket, stopped the first two aimed at her, and that bought her enough time to throw up a runic shield with her free arm before the rest of the bullets slammed into the glowing circular barrier.

 

She needed to find Jonah and end this. And there was something else she needed to do, something even more important. But she couldn't do it yet. She was already straining, pushed to her limits as she managed a hurricane-force storm and three giant dragons, and these fucking bullets slamming into her shield weren't helping.

 

When the first missile hit her shield, the impact was so much more powerful that her shield buckled, and the remaining force of the explosion sent her flying backward into the side of the mountain. However, that pushed her out of the spray of bullets, so she had enough time to refocus her attention into another shield while still maintaining the typhoon and dragons, which were chewing up Jonah's attack dogs both on the ground and in the air, but the great beasts weren't indestructible.

 

Her green dragon shrieked as a surface-to-air missile hit its underbelly, blasting enough of its mass away to bring it crashing to the ground.

 

Her silver dragon died as one of the last two helicopters unloaded a brace of missiles into its side.

 

The red dragon avenged its silver sister by tearing that particular helicopter apart, but the last helicopter targeted the other helicopter directly, sending two missiles into the twisted pair of machine and dragon as they fought, and the explosion blew the last dragon apart.

 

—O—

 

“I'm going to have to deal with this myself,” Jonah/Victor grumbled.

 

He turned to the troop commander. “Thank you for your services. You were worth every single dollar.”

 

“We haven't accomplished our goal yet,” said the man, surprised.

 

“Yes, you have,” said Jonah/Victor.

 

He reached out and flared into brilliant, blinding white light. He vaporized the man, turning his body into energy and absorbing it into himself. This was a crude method, more wasteful than the elegant, nearly lossless energy transfer device Victor Stein had created, but this method did have a certain crude, visceral appeal to it.

 

He launched himself into the air, flying high and to the side, hoping to catch the witch off-guard. Her storm actually worked in his favor, as it dampened his luminous form significantly, and despite the wide arc he was taking to reach her, she didn't seem to detect his approach.

 

The last helicopter sent a brace of rockets zooming toward the mountain where the girl stood. Her mystic shield widened appreciably, and the impact of the half-dozen explosions shook her shield, which finally wavered and vanished as the last of the fireballs erupted against the barrier, pushing her beyond what her body could sustain.

 

—O—

 

Nico's head was screaming, her nose was pouring blood, her ears were ringing louder than she had ever felt, and it felt like her arms and legs were on fire.

 

And her shield was down, and the rain had stopped. The clouds were evaporating, and the sun was coming back out.

 

This was not good.

 

She only had an instant before she'd be dead. There was no time for anything complex, so she grabbed the Staff, lying on the muddy ground beside her and spoke a single word: _“Re-raise.”_

 

When she saw the gleaming white light out of the corner of her eye, she briefly thought that Karolina had come to save her, but then she realized this light was too white, too blue, and then the explosion swallowed her.

 

—O—

 

Jonah/Victor watched with unmitigated delight as the explosion of his plasma ball sent the girl's body flying limply, spinning until she hit the side of the mountain hard enough to trigger a small rockslide that covered her body. The force of the blast had shredded her skin and clothing alike as well as ruptured internal organs, as he was no longer holding his powers back.

 

It was time to show these dirt specks what a Majesdanian could do.

 

He saw the discarded Staff lying next to the shallow pile of rocks covering what was left of its master. But the Staff was incredibly dangerous. He had seen what happened to people who touched it. Better to leave it, to bury it, where no one else could find it and use it against him.

 

The sun grew even brighter, now that those storm clouds had vanished. All he had to do now was find his wayward daughter, claim her offspring and raise the hybrid as a proper member of his family. His son was now lost, dying or dead along with the Wilder child, still trapped in the boy's psyche at the time his mother killed him. His cousin trapped in Tina's mind was missing, and nothing he had tried had been able to detect Tina at all. He had to assume his cousin was dead as well.

 

He still had one more cousin, and gaining his grandchild would give them enough to rebuild, slowly.

 

The light from the sun grew even brighter, which he ignored, until it began to take on a decidedly pink tint.

 

He looked up and to the side in just enough time to see a furious Karolina, glowing brighter than the sun, slam directly into him like a meteor.

 

—O—

 

As Karolina drove herself into Jonah/Victor as full speed, she generated a shockwave blast, magnifying the force of the impact and sending her birth father into a smoking plummet to the desert floor.

 

“ _WHERE IS MY WIFE?!”_ she screamed, all sense of control and reason gone.

 

The sensation of multiple impacts against the plasma field she was generating around herself drew her attention. She looked up to see a helicopter aiming at her, spits of fire coming from the cannon under its nose.

 

She extended both arms and unleashed a gout of pink and violet light so intense that it sheared through the helicopter's armor, designed to stop tank cannons, like it was paper. The beam cut the machine in two lengthwise, and the two pieces spun as they fell to earth.

 

Karolina turned to see the remaining soldiers starting to move, some of them firing at her, others retreating.

 

A quick glance showed no sign of Nico, and that made her even more pissed off. They had hurt Nico; she had heard it through the open phone connection, and then the connection had ended in a burst of static.

 

They were all going to die.

 

Karolina dove toward the gunmen, unleashing waves of luminous energy that burned and sliced as they struck, killing her attackers almost instantly. She flew through them, cutting them down, until a blast of impact on her back sent her skidding onto the muddy ground.

 

She never fully stopped, using her flight to pull herself back into the air and angling back toward Jonah, airborne once more. She couldn't feel her legs or her feet, but as long as she was flying, she didn't need them.

 

Rather than use another energy blast, she flew directly into Jonah/Victor, punching him in the face hard enough to break the jaw of Victor's human body. It was much harder than Jonah had expected, and the impact sent him backward, rotating in a backwards flip.

 

“Your little human is dead!” Jonah/Victor cried as he spent some of his light to heal the injuries to this body. He pointed to the blasted surface of the small mountain nearby.

 

Karolina's breath caught in her throat as she looked at the rubble from the shattered side of the mountain, the same mountain that she and Nico had used to sit and watch the sunset and sunrise. It was exactly where Nico would have been positioned.

 

Karolina's scream wasn't anything verbal. It was guttural, primal, pure rage. She grabbed Jonah/Victor and launched herself at that mountain, aiming away from the already-damaged face while holding his body in front of her as she drove the two of them into the side of the mountain with enough force to shake the ground a half-mile away.

 

She pulled back slightly, hovering. A quick glance, and she saw the Staff on the ground, next to the pile of rocks.

 

Jonah burst out of the rubble, but Karolina was already boiling toward him again, mouth open in a snarl of utter fury. They slammed into each other, hands opposed to each other, faces and chests centimeters apart as they glared at each other, the pink-purple light and the white-blue struggling for dominance.

 

Jonah had decades, even centuries of experience with his powers.

 

Karolina was riding a hormonal cocktail of adrenaline, endorphins and balls-out teenage rage.

 

Jonah felt Victor's human hands crack under Karolina's squeezing grip. He could feel his energy start to bleed away as Karolina began to unconsciously drain his light as she overpowered him. He tried to disengage, to pull away, but the furious young woman refused to let go, continuing to overpower him and drive him back, bending his possessed body back, back until Victor's spine began to strain.

 

The motion of the Staff of One suddenly flying up from the ground made Karolina look and pause as she continued to hold Jonah/Victor in her light field, her hands and upper body forcing his arms and body backward painfully.

 

The pile of rocks shifted and rose, rocks sliding to the side as a very battered, bleeding Nico Dean awkwardly stood up. The Staff flew into her left hand, still sore from the birth; her right arm was broken, and she stumbled as she stepped out of the pile of rubble, landing painfully on her side as she found out that her right leg was broken, too.

 

But that was better than being dead, which she had been. Temporarily.

 

As she lay on the dirty ground, she focused on her pain, on her agony, on the emotional anguish, on the guilt of failing her family. She poured all of that into the Staff of One, feeding it with her dark emotions, with her pain, and she felt the terrible power inside the Staff and inside herself swell.

 

She rose up from the ground, levitating without using any power at all, holding the Staff as high as her left arm could go, because apparently that shoulder was fucked up, too.

 

“ _NONE OF MY FAMILY DIES TODAY!!”_

 

—O—

 

Gert finished the scream that had been cut off by the bullets tearing into her back as she tried to shield Old Lace. Lace leaped to her back paws, accidentally sending Gert tumbling onto her back in the dirt.

 

 _Sorry master-gert_ , Lace thought, as she swiftly checked for any nearby humans that might be a threat to her master. All the other humans around them were dead, so no immediate threat.

 

Gert tackled Old Lace, startling the dinosaur until she realized that her master was hugging her, thinking thoughts of happiness.

 

—O—

 

Chase got to his feet, sore and aching. The vehicles that been assaulting the Bunker were destroyed, and now he saw helicopter wreckage burning on the desert, with what looked like claws marks gouging through the armor.

 

Ah. Nico.

 

He checked the Fistigons; the left one was a bit glitchy, but the right one was at full capacity.

 

He smiled. One fist was all he needed, anyway. He set off at a quick jog toward the small group that was left of the mercenaries, roughly a kilometer away.

 

—O—

 

Alex sat up. He had been shot in the face, by his own mother. He quickly felt his face, but there was no pain. And no crater or wound.

 

His mother was bent over a few meters away, her back to him, likely crying, judging from the shaking of her torso.

 

Alex looked beside him. He grabbed the pistol he had used to shoot his father, who ultimately couldn't pull the trigger on his own son.

 

The sound alerted Catherine, and she turned, grabbing her own pistol on reflex. She wasn't fully turned around when the shots rang out and the bullets hit her chest, twisting her over and leaving her lying unnaturally on her back, staring up at the sun as she died.

 

—O—

 

As soon as Molly came to, she activated her powers and climbed to her feet. There were only a handful of men in desert fatigues that she could see, maybe twenty or so, but there were still a few vehicles here.

 

She grabbed the back frame of one of the light attack vehicles, then swung it like a giant paddle, releasing it and sending it into the group of mercenaries from behind, snapping bones and crushing bodies with the impact.

 

She grabbed the next vehicle, this one a Humvee. She hefted it, then threw it into the next Humvee, and the momentum of the throw hit another vehicle parked beside them before the gas in the tanks ignited, creating a massive explosion.

 

The soft pops of bullets hitting her side and back made her look beside her. Slightly up on a rise, a half-dozen fatigue-clad men were shooting at her. And Not-Stacey was there.

 

Molly grinned as she ran up the bluff.

 

—O—

 

“Oh God, you're alive!” Karolina cried out as she looked at Nico; she was still crushing Jonah/Victor's hands and burning the skin on the human's body.

 

“Yeah,” Nico said, slowly and painfully. “We have to finish Jonah.”

 

Karolina nodded, the action flinging tears from her cheeks. She yanked Jonah/Victor to her left, releasing his hands but trapping him in a light field just off the ground.

 

Nico raised the Staff, pointing it toward Jonah/Victor. “Don't expect me to make a habit of this,” she quietly said to the Staff. She turned to Jonah/Victor and screamed, _“Jonah, your soul is MINE!”_

 

Karolina shifted the flow of her light field, using it to pull the physical body toward her, while the Staff pulled Jonah's soul in the opposite direction. For long seconds, both figures could be seen, Jonah's luminous form clinging to Victor Stein's physical body, until the connection was broken with no audible sound but a distinct snapping sensation that both Nico and Karolina felt inside themselves.

 

Karolina lowered Victor's body to the ground as the man started to groan in pain, then she looked up in time to see Jonah's luminous form sucked into the Staff's headpiece.

 

When Nico visibly trembled, Karolina flew over and caught her wife before she fell again. Nico hissed in pain as Karolina grabbed her right elbow. “Arm's broken,” she said through gritted teeth, then she opened her eyes. “Fuck, I'm sorry. You just birthed a child, and I'm crying over a broken arm. And leg.”

 

Karolina pulled Nico to her side, holding her wife by the waist. “How's this?” the glowing blonde asked.

 

“This works,” Nico said with a nod. “Thank you.”

 

“No, thank _you_. That sun spell you cast was _awesome_. It got the bleeding mostly stopped, though I _am_ wearing an adult diaper right now. How sexy is that?”

 

Nico leaned her forehead against Karolina's. “If you're wearing it, you make anything sexy.”

 

Karolina turned them until she could use one of her hands to grab Victor's moaning figure; she grabbed him in a light field, then started flying to where things were still exploding, on a small bluff across the valley.

 

—O—

 

Molly was tearing through the remaining soldiers when Not-Stacey hit her with what looked like a paintball loaded with gold paint. The sudden weak sensation that swept Molly's body was very unexpected, and she immediately dove for cover. She had felt this before, when her powers had been temporarily negated, and she flinched when bullets started to _spang_ off the side of the Humvee she was using for cover.

 

A shooting noise registered in her ears the same time as the ground on the other side of the Humvee erupted, sending some of the mercenaries flying with surprised shouts and cries. Another blast and explosion, and Molly turned to see Chase running toward her, using one glove to generate an electromagnetic field in front of him to capture bullets shot in his direction while using the other to fire pulse bolts.

 

The glove he was using for attack seemed to be not working correctly, though, and the energy blasts had stopped while he seemed to be shaking the left Fistigon. And maybe swearing at it.

 

That was when Old Lace tore into the remaining mercenaries, using her speed, power and claws to rip, tear and disembowel them in a flash. She was so fast that she was through them before they could turn and target her; she remember the experience of being shot with the loud objects, and she had no intention of letting them shoot her or master-gert again.

 

Not-Stacey opened the case for her darts and gun, quickly finding the dart with the poison she had used on the _Deinonychus_ once before, now enhanced to be much faster-acting. She opened the injector gun to load it when someone grabbed her shoulders and spun her around. She had enough time to get a glimpse of purple hair before a fist connected with the side of her face, then again, then a third time before her world went black.

 

—O—

 

There were still a few vehicle fires burning when Karolina, Nico and an incoherent Victor Stein reached the bluff hosting the command post.

 

All the remaining mercenaries were dead except for a few that were injured and had been restrained, kept in obvious sight and away from each other to minimize the chance of them trying anything.

 

Not-Stacey was lying on her back on the ground, her jacket stripped off of her, with small devices and objects scattered and thrown several meters away. Gert and Old Lace were standing over her, watching her carefully.

 

“Where's Alex?” Nico asked, not seeing the last member of their family.

 

Chase pointed out into the muddy mess of bodies and wreckage. Nico turned her head to see someone sitting in the mud, around two bodies that weren't wearing desert fatigues. One looked to be wearing a red dress.

 

“Is that his parents?” she asked, heart hammering.

 

“I think so, yeah,” Chase said. “They were here. He went to meet them.”

 

“Did Jonah wake up that thing inside his mind again?” asked Karolina, still holding Nico in front of her and the field bearing Victor with her left hand.

 

“No,” Gert said. “Alex went to meet his parents to try to get them to call this off.” She checked on Not-Stacey again, then looked in the distance at Alex again. “Looks like that went about like usual for us.”

 

She whirled to Nico and Karolina. “The baby!”

 

“She's fine,” Karolina said. “I nursed her then came straight here. Nico had a head start on me, because I was still bleeding, but she set up a nice healing spell for me that got me back in the fight.”

 

She leaned closer to Nico, putting her lips to her wife's ear. She whispered, “Let's keep the adult diaper between you and me, okay?”

 

Nico met Karolina's gaze with her brown eyes and nodded. Bruises were starting to form across her forehead and left cheek, visible through the dirt and smudged makeup.

 

“Honey, you need to heal yourself,” Karolina said. “You're going to scare Persy when we get her.”

 

“Persy?” asked Molly.

 

“Short for Persephone,” Karolina said with a smile. “The goddess who lived in the light half of the year and in the darkness half of the year. We thought it was fitting.”

 

Nico wiggled slightly in Karolina's grasp, trying to step down to the ground. “I can stand if you can get me on my good leg.”

 

“Are you sure?” asked Karolina, very unsure herself. “Nico, sweetheart, you need to heal yourself, too.”

 

Nico shook her head. “Can't. I need the pain right now. It's keeping me going.”

 

Karolina eased her wife down, gently letting Nico get her weight onto her left leg but hovering nearby. As her weight settled onto her leg, Nico felt muscles burn and ache again. She sucked in a breath and held it, taking the pain and using it for her magic.

 

“ _Exorcism of Stacey Yorkes!”_ she said, holding the Staff ahead of her. Not-Stacey floated upward a few centimeters, her body jerking and seizing as a glowing ball of yellow light began to emerge from her head. The struggle went on for several seconds before Nico finally yanked the Staff back toward her, wrenching the wispy orb of light free of Stacey's mind.

 

“What are you going to...” Gert began, stopping as she saw the glowing ball sucked into the Staff's headpiece, ripped apart bit by bit as it neared the artifact until it vanished.

 

“I need Alex, and quick, because I'm going to throw up soon, and when that happens, I'll pass out.” Nico said.

 

“On it,” Karolina said, taking off like a blur.

 

“Dad!” Chase said, as the luminous field vanished in Karolina's absence, revealing the burned body of Victor Stein. “Jesus, Dad! What... What happened?” He fell to his knees in front of his father, peeling off the Fistigons and laying them on the ground next to him.

 

Nico swayed a bit before she answered. “Jonah fought Karolina using Victor's body. Then we pulled Jonah's soul out of your dad's body. He's himself again, for good this time.”

 

Gert knelt beside Chase, who was fighting back tears. “Hey,” she said, her own heart breaking at the look of anguish she saw in Chase's eyes when he turned to look at her. “I called your mom. Apparently one of the things we broke—well, that Molly broke, most likely—must have been the jamming device. Phones are getting signal to the outside now. I told your mom roughly where we were. You've probably got something at home that can help heal him, right?”

 

Chase shook his head. “I—I don't know. We smashed the stuff Jonah was using at Gibborim Central. But maybe Dad and Mom have a copy of the specs somewhere.”

 

“I'll try to heal him,” Nico said, but she was starting to look worryingly ashen.

 

Chase nodded. “Thank you,” he said. “For everything.”

 

“Hey,” Nico replied. “Thank YOU. All of you. You were willing to die for Karolina and me, and the baby, and you proved it. That's love.”

 

“Did we really die?” asked Molly.

 

“Not enough that I couldn't bring you back,” Nico replied, giving her friends a real smile. “So maybe you need to ask that question to someone with more experience than me.”

 

A brilliant light announced Karolina's return. She set Alex on the ground.

 

“Is it—” he began.

 

“ _Exorcism of Alex Wilder!”_

 

Alex's body stiffened as he stood, then a glowing orange ball of light began to tug out of his head. Alex's expression grew determined, and the pale orange glow popped free much faster than the one that had been inside Not-Stacey.

 

This one, too, was sucked into the Staff, torn apart glowing piece by glowing piece, until it likewise had vanished.

 

“Okay,” Nico said, looking at the Staff and feeling annoyance with its delight. “Again, don't get used to it. This was a special occasion.”

 

She abruptly flared with violet light as she felt a surge of power from the consumed soul, and briefly she wondered if she had actually guilted the Staff into sharing the power from that soul with her. She looked at the unconscious body of Victor, behind Chase and Gert. _“Heal Chase's dad!”_ she said, channeling the swell of power, holding the spell for as long as she could before she passed out.

 

—O—

 

Nico slowly began to drift back into wakefulness. She felt Karolina's warmth against her left side. Her right arm hurt like a bitch when she tried to move it, so she didn't try again. Her right leg was still throbbing, and that seemed to be worsening as she came to, unfortunately.

 

The warmth on her chest was unusual though. It felt heavier than Karolina's arm.

 

She blinked open her eyes and lifted her head (which also hurt), but what she saw made her forget the pain briefly.

 

Her daughter lay sleeping on her chest, Karolina's left arm draped lightly over the baby's back to hold the infant in place on Nico's sternum.

 

“Hey, sleepyhead,” Karolina said proudly. “You like your new blanket?”

 

Nico lifted her left arm despite the pain in her shoulder; feeling the movement, Karolina rolled back slightly to free Nico's arm. The dark-haired woman's hand came up, and Karolina lifted her hand to let Nico slide her own hand against Persephone's back to hold their daughter. The baby was wearing the black onesie that Karolina had bought months ago, and that made Nico's heart soar even more at her wife's knowing gesture.

 

Karolina lowered her hand again, atop Nico's now, as they lay in their bed and held their baby.

 

“You saved Victor's life, you know.”

 

Nico closed her eyes and lay still for a bit. “The Staff fed me some of the energy from those souls. I don't ever want to use anything like that again, and I _especially_ don't want to use it to benefit myself. I needed to be as selfless as possible using it, and I wanted it gone.” Nico glanced to the side until a bolt of pain shot up her right shoulder this time. “Ow,” she said.

 

“Yeah, I bet,” replied Karolina, smiling. “From what I hear, you got killed too.”

 

“Yeah. I tried to do too much at once.”

 

“No!” Karolina said softly but dramatically, making it clear she was being a smart-ass.

 

“I was mad, okay?” Nico replied, just as softly. “I want to hurt them. All of them. And I fucking did.”

 

“That was how I felt, when I heard your phone cut off. I made them shove that fucking diaper on me and then get out of the way as I shot out of there.”

 

“Your bleeding stopped?”

 

“Yeah. They put some nasty brown goop up inside me to stop it. And again, that sunlight you conjured was amazing. I feel tons better. The tiny little tear I had from the delivery is already healed, according to Dr. Lindell and Meghan. Not that I could feel it.”

 

“Is that getting better?”

 

Karolina nodded. “I can actually tell that I have feet and legs again. And I can mostly feel when I need to pee. I have to wear this stupid thing for a bit longer, just in case my bladder's slow to wake back up.”

 

“Where are the doctor and Meghan?”

 

“Asleep in one of the rooms we weren't using. Bed was big enough for both of them. Janet brought some food for all of us, so they ate before they passed out. We'll take them back home later this evening.”

 

“Janet came by?”

 

“She came to the war zone to try and help us. She also brought by the last of the mind-wipe stuff. Stacey injected the surviving mercenaries with it, then we cut them loose. Chase, Alex and Molly moved the Wilders' bodies back to the car they had driven to meet Jonah, then Alex took the car to some place on the docks and torched the car.”

 

“That's extra. Jesus.”

 

“He said the fire'll destroy any DNA evidence or fibers but still leave enough to identify them, as well as the cause of death. He thinks it'll make it look like they got caught up in something shady and were killed.”

 

“How'd he set the fire?”

 

“He had Chase run a rag into the gas tank, then blast it from a rooftop with an energy bolt, all while Alex was hanging out with Livvie on the other side of town with plenty of witnesses.”

 

Nico shook her head. “His plans scare me sometimes.”

 

“I know, right?!”

 

“What about all the wreckage and bodies back at the desert?”

 

Karolina smiled. “The Staff helped with that one. I used, 'Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,' and the bodies and wreckage blew away.”

 

“Subtle and effective. I approve.”

 

“I think it scared the shit out of Janet and Stacey, though. Me using the Staff. They thought you'd died for a minute.”

 

Nico nodded. “I kind of did, to be fair.”

 

Karolina shivered, and Nico felt it across her whole body. “How _did_ you do that? Die and come back?”

 

Nico smiled. “It was dumb. It was a spell on one of the video games that Amy loved to play. After you cast it on one of your party, if that character died while the spell was active, it brought him or her back to life on the next turn.”

 

Karolina kissed Nico's cheek. “That doesn't sound dumb to me. It sounds brilliant, in fact.”

 

“It didn't bring back the character fully healed. You were still critically injured and could be killed again if you didn't get healed right away, but I figured that would work to my advantage. I needed to be injured and hurting to boost my power for the group rez spell.”

 

“Group rez?” Karolina asked, confused.

 

Nico smiled. “Gamer talk. I guess I picked up something from her and Alex playing over the years.”

 

“Did you hit your head or something?” Karolina said playfully, lifting Nico's hair to check for an injury but accidentally poking a lump on Nico's head.

 

“Ow!” Nico said, pulling back slightly and giving Karolina, who was laughing, a displeased look.

 

“I'm sorry,” Karolina said around her laughter.

 

“Yeah, you sound it.”

 

Nico shifted to move back against Karolina, but the movement triggered another surge of pain in her right shoulder. “Fuck,” she swore softly.

 

“That's going to be our baby's first word,” Karolina said, a twinkle in her eye. “'Fuck', and _then_ 'Mama'.”

 

“It's easy to pronounce.”

 

“For you.”

 

“It will be for her, too.”

 

“I can imagine the calls we'll get from kindergarten when she starts school.”

 

“PTA meetings are going to be fun.”

 

“Please tell me you'll dress up like usual for them.”

 

“Of course. I'm a little offended you think I wouldn't goth it up.”

 

“That's my Nico,” Karolina said, snuggling against her wife. “We're going to have to wake her up so she can nurse soon. My boobs are starting to feel full.”

 

“I want to watch.”

 

Karolina smiled. “Okay.” Playfully she added, “Freak.”

 

Nico's mouth opened. “Hey,” she said, trying not to laugh. “I think it's beautiful!”

 

“I know. I was just teasing you. Of course you can watch.”

 

“It _might_ be a bit of a turn-on, too.”

 

“No sex for a few weeks, according to the doctors.”

 

“You heal fast. We'll make sure you get plenty of sunlight.”

 

“God, Nico,” Karolina said, _faux_ exasperation in her voice. “You've got a broken arm, a broken leg, a black eye, probably a concussion, cuts and scrapes everywhere, and you're thinking about sex.”

 

Nico waited, holding Karolina's sapphire gaze before replying. “I have a hot wife.”

 

Karolina rolled her eyes. “Scoot over,” she said. “I need some more pillows to support my back.”

 

“I have a hurt arm. And a hurt leg.”

 

“You can come up with a differently-worded healing trance later.”

 

“Yeah, true. So how's Alex?”

 

“He's... not good.”

 

“I'll talk to him soon.”

 

“I think that'd be good. Chase and Gert would be horrible choices to talk to him.”

 

“Has Molly talked to him? She lost her parents before the rest of us.”

 

“She's talking to him now.”

 

“Okay, good.”

 

Nico moved to the side, trying not to disturb the baby or make any noises of pain as her right leg shifted with the movement. “Thank you for saving me today,” she said, watching as Karolina piled pillows behind her back and grabbed her curved Boppy pillow, positioning it on her lap.

 

“You're welcome,” Karolina said, her blue eyes bright as she lifted Persephone, who started to fuss and whimper at the removal of her warm bed from beneath her. Karolina briefly placed her daughter on the Boppy, then shucked her shirt over her head and tossed it on the bed next to Nico, who picked it up and held it to her face.

 

“You smell good,” the jet-haired witch said, through the white fabric.

 

“I do,” replied Karolina as she moved the baby and Boppy to her chest, positioning the infant at her right breast, then brushing the baby's lips with her nipple. After a few seconds, Persephone was firmly latched on and nursing. Karolina used her left hand to grab a white towel from her other side, placing it under her left breast to catch the milk that would soon start leaking. “ _I_ took a shower while you were out.”

 

Nico slid back over, swearing under her breath at her right arm and leg as she scooted across the bed.

 

“You should really go ahead and do that healing trance,” Karolina said, smiling as she saw the rapt look on Nico's face as she watched their child nurse at Karolina's breast.

 

“Yeah, probably. Just want to watch a bit longer.”

 

“Sweetheart, you can watch me nurse her for the next year. You're hurting.”

 

Nico looked up and met Karolina's eyes again, and she felt her resistance crumble in the weight of that blue gaze.

 

“Please?” asked the blonde. “Once you're healed, you can talk to Alex, help him through this really shitty day, then you can come back up here and watch our little girl suck on my boob like a little fiend.”

 

Nico laughed despite the pain in her ribs. “Okay, how can I say no to that?”

 

Karolina smiled. “You can't. Because I _am_ amazing.”

 

Nico nodded, trying to figure out how she was going to call the Staff, when Karolina used her left hand to _gently_ grip the Staff in a light field and bring it over to where she could grasp it herself; she then carefully passed it over the baby to Nico.

 

“You really are amazing,” Nico said.

 

Karolina's smile turned into a playful smirk. “Told you. Heal up, my dark goth princess. I love you, and the rest of your family needs you, too.”

 

Nico yawned, regretting it when _everything_ hurt. “Okay, I'll just snooze for a bit.”

 

“Healing trance, so you don't wake up a grumpy bear.”

 

Nico lifted the Staff between them. _“Healing trance, so I can wake up and not be a grumpy bear.”_ She then set the Staff beside her and settled down, nestled beside Karolina so their bodies were touching.

 

“Good night, my sweet Nico,” Karolina whispered. “Thank you for giving me everything I've ever wanted.”

 

Nico reached up with her left arm and placed her left hand on Karolina's bare thigh, giving it a light grope before dozing off, letting her hand slide back down to the bed.

 

“God, Nico,” Karolina said, trying not to laugh as she fed their daughter.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I know that some interpretations and accounts of Persephone's legend say that she swallowed four pomegranate seeds, not six. Some versions say five. There's dispute as to what the actual number was. As such, Nico and Karolina went with the version where she swallowed six seeds and thus spent half the year in Hades and half the year on the Earth, because they liked the symbolism. 
> 
> I also couldn't find any official account of Amy's middle name, so I just picked a name that sounded nice and went with it. I can always amend it later if we ever find out the character's official middle name.
> 
> And in case anyone was wondering, Nico's dresses always have pockets. Because that's how she likes them.
> 
> Next chapter, Nico, Karolina and Persephone take a trip to New Orleans.


	7. Who's the Predator, Who's the Prey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm cheating a bit with this chapter's music. The song was already used in an episode of Cloak and Dagger, but it's SO GOOD that I had to use it for the big fight.
> 
> Also, this chapter presented a very interesting dilemma for me. The ending of season two of Cloak and Dagger is almost certainly indicating a crossover with Runaways. As such, do I make that part of this story without really knowing what the crossover is going to be about (tricky, but doable), or do I not take anything for granted and write this chapter as if this is the first meeting between the two shows (easier but runs the risk of being invalidated in the future)? In the end, I went with the first option and assume that they're having a crossover, because I definitely think it's going to happen.

_So don't you try to tame the lion_

_Just ride on the horizon_

_Can somebody let the beast out, baby_

_Yeah we all hide our desire_

_And then we feel the beat like fire_

_Would somebody let the beast out, baby_

_Can't stop the beat, can't stop the beat_

_Run but you can't hide from the heat_

_Life is a record, playing on repeat_

_I'm running wild with the Lion, the Beast, the Beat_

 

 

\--Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, “The Lion the Beast the Beat”

 

 

—O—

—O—

 

“I'm sorry, miss, but we don't do school tours here at Wizard New Orleans.”

 

The clacking of black-painted nails on the granite counter of the lobby's main desk was the only noise heard for a few seconds, a staccato ripple of noise as all four nails tapped the hard surface in sequence, rolling smoothly from little finger to index finger, then repeating, again and again.

 

The soft burble of a baby interrupted the clacking of the nails.

 

“We're not here for a school trip.”

 

“This parish has truancy laws, miss. It's eleven in the morning. You should be in school.”

 

“We got our GEDs! We don't even _have_ school!”

 

“I'm sorry, miss.”

 

The sound of barely muffled laughter came from behind the woman tapping her nails on the counter. She was on the smaller side, wearing a black velvet cold shoulder dress whose skirt fell almost to her knees, paired with her much-loved black leather Sherry studded cage sandals. Her shiny jet hair was pulled into a sleek ponytail, paired with wide, intense dark red eyeshadow and even darker red lip color.

 

Behind her was a taller woman with light blonde hair falling in lightly curled waves to just below her shoulders. She was wearing a thin sundress, white with a brown and orange print that looked like palm trees and flowers, the skirt falling most of the way down her thighs. At the end of her long, bare legs were woven wedge sandals with tan leather tops and straps. She had a thin necklace with a lone unadorned opal as its only decoration, centered just above her sternum. (As her favorite necklace as well as a gift from Nico years ago, it had been easy for Nico to enchant it with a bullet barrier spell and a portal spell.)

 

In the blonde's arms was a baby, now three months old. The baby was wearing a dark purple onesie, and as the blonde turned the baby around, showing off pale blonde hair and wide, searching brown eyes, the Wizard greeter could see an admittedly cute bat with big eyes on the front of the infant's onesie.

 

“Look,” said the shorter woman, who appeared to be Japanese. “I get that we've never been here before. To New Orleans. Or to this branch of Wizard. But we got up stupid early this morning to fly down here—“ (they didn't) “—and our daughter didn't sleep well last night—” (she did) “—so I'm not in the best mood this morning.” (This much was true, though that had more to do with a barista who couldn't get their coffee order right as their first experience in New Orleans.)

 

“I'm texting Arthur Robichaud,” the blonde said, pulling a phone out of the black diaper bag resting in the large stroller they had brought with them.

 

That name got the greeter's attention. “How do you know Mr. Robichaud?” he asked.

 

“That's who we're supposed to be meeting,” said the Japanese girl. “But YOU won't let him know we're here—” the girl paused as she stood on her tiptoes to peer over the high counter enough to read the young man's ID badge “—Davis.”

 

Feeling a speck of worry start to form in the pit of his stomach, the man took another look at the two young women. And the cute baby. “What... did you say your name was again?”

 

“Nico Dean. Or maybe you'd recognize Nico MINORU Dean better? As in, daughter of Robert and Tina Minoru?”

 

Yes. He had definitely made a mistake.

 

“As in, my wife and I own just over seventy percent of Wizard?”

 

He had made a very big mistake.

 

“Mrs. Dean!” called out an overly friendly voice, from a man who came bursting out of a stairwell door, having obviously traversed multiple floors rapidly, judging from the shine of sweat on his forehead. “Mrs. Dean!” he repeated, coming to a stop from his run. “I'm... Arthur... Robichaud.”

 

“Hi, Arthur,” Nico said, giving the man a wry look as he worked to catch his breath.

 

“We just heard you were coming this morning!”

 

“Karolina and I decided we wanted to see some of Wizard's different branches. You know, get an idea of what some of the different companies do, get a feel for the cities, that shit.”

 

“Bbb!” said the baby at hearing the last word, little arms flapping happily as Karolina held her. Persephone was starting to show an inordinate amount of delight with curse words. Although, to be fair, it might have just been Nico's voice, since the two went together a significant amount of the time.

 

“Well, we're very happy to see you!” said Arthur, extending a hand to Nico. She kept her arms crossed.

 

“I don't shake a lot of hands,” she said flatly. “Nothing personal.”

 

“Ah,” replied the man, smile only faltering for a moment. “Of course!” He looked to Karolina.

 

“Baby,” the blonde said, holding Persephone to her chest in front of her. “She puts everything in her mouth, so I'd prefer not to shake hands, too.”

 

“This is my wife, Karolina,” Nico said, “and our daughter, Persephone.” When she looked back at the two blondes—because it appeared that Persephone's hair was indeed turning blonde, after being as dark as Nico's at birth, she smiled without even thinking about it, and that smile persisted as she turned back to the regional director for Wizard's New Orleans facility.

 

“You have a lovely family, Mrs. Dean,” said Arthur, and his smile seemed warmer this time. “It's been a while since mine were that age. Eight and fourteen, now.”

 

Nico nodded. “Yeah, some nights go well, some don't. But we love her so much, and we're thankful to have our little Persy.”

 

“Well, you'll have many years of sleepless nights to look forward to, just for different reasons as they get older,” he said, a knowing grin on his face.

 

Robichaud turned to look at Davis. “Why didn't you tell me that the Deans were here?!” he said, the irritation in his voice fairly well-disguised but still notable.

 

“I, um...”

 

“Look, Davis,” Nico said, turned back to the young man, who looked like he was in his mid-twenties. “We get that we're young. We can't help that. But you might want to be more careful with your assumptions in the future. I'm not in a _particularly_ shitty mood this morning, just more irritated, which is good, because normally I'm kind of a bitch.”

 

“Kind of?” asked Karolina from behind Nico.

 

The black-haired woman turned and looked at the cheery blonde, a retort on her lips, but Karolina immediately made a silly face involving crossed eyes and a tongue that nearly touched the tip of her nose that instantly and unexpectedly made Nico laugh.

 

“You're ridiculous,” Nico said around her traitorous smile, both mad at her emotions for being such pushovers for Karolina and loving how deeply and effortlessly the blonde affected her.

 

“No, I'm Karolina,” replied the blonde, still with her usual sunny disposition.

 

“Smart-ass.”

 

The blonde leaned down and kissed Nico on the lips, getting a happy noise from Persy with the movement and getting closer to her other mother. “I learned from the best,” Karolina said proudly.

 

Nico stuck her nose out, rubbing Persy's nose with her own. That elicited another squeal and smile from the baby girl, whose eyes were slightly lighter than Nico's but still a rich brown. “You are such a cute little shit,” Nico said playfully. “Just like your tall mommy!”

 

“You want to hold her for a bit, hon?” asked Karolina.

 

“Of course,” replied Nico, happily taking the baby girl into her arms before turning to the office's chief executive. “Alright, Arthur, why don't you give us a rundown on what makes Wizard New Orleans special?”

 

—O—

 

The tour took just under an hour, taking the two young women and their baby through most of the multi-story building before Persephone started to get fussy. Robichaud offered the use of his office for Karolina to nurse the baby, which she did with a thin blanket over her chest, slipping one arm out of the dress for one breast, then repeating on the other side when Persy was ready to change. During the nursing, she and Nico continued to talk to the regional director about a few other issues.

 

“We appreciate the tour of the facility, Arthur,” Nico said, sitting so that her legs touched Karolina's as they spoke to the older man.

 

“I think it speaks well of you that you're making an effort to visit different branches of Wizard. Are you planning on taking an active role with the company? Possibly a seat on the board of directors?”

 

“With all the shit that's gone on in the last year and with this little girl now in our lives, I want to spend as much time as I can with her and my wife right now. I'll probably take a seat on the board, but I think it'd be best if I stayed out of active management until I learn more about the company. My parents did a good job of putting competent people in the right positions, and I don't want to mess with what's working. There's still a lot I've got to learn.”

 

“That's an excellent approach to let you get your feet wet. Is there anything else we can do for you and your wife? Karolina, correct?”

 

“That's right,” said the blonde, using the blanket to conceal sliding the strap of her sundress back over her arm. She then slid the blanket over her shoulder and turned Persy over, holding her to her shoulder and patting her on the back to burp the now-full baby. “We appreciate you taking time from your busy day to meet us. Hopefully Nico didn't scare everyone too badly.”

 

“Oh, I wasn't trying to scare everyone,” Nico said breezily. “I'd have dressed differently if I wanted to do that.”

 

“You'd still have been cute.”

 

Nico playfully narrowed her eyes at Karolina, to which the blonde responded by doing the same in return.

 

“How long will the three of you be in town?” asked Arthur.

 

“Probably a day or two,” replied Nico. “We've never been here before, and we want to get to try some Cajun food, see some of the city, that kind of stuff.”

 

“Hopefully there's some vegan Cajun food,” Karolina said lightly.

 

Nico placed her hand on Karolina's knee. “We'll find you some, Kar.”

 

“I've got some recommendations, if you'd like,” offered Arthur. “My older daughter is a vegetarian, so my wife and I were forced to learn.”

 

“We'd love some recommendations, thanks!” Karolina said happily. “Food _and_ places to see?”

 

“Of course!”

 

As the man started writing out a list, Nico gave Karolina a subtle look, then looked back at Arthur, waiting until he was done writing to speak.

 

“I did have one more thing I wanted to ask you about, Arthur.”

 

“Of course, Nico.”

 

The jet-haired woman smiled. “Well, first, thanks for actually doing as we asked and using our first names. Sometimes trying to figure out which 'Mrs. Dean' someone is addressing is a pain in the ass.”

 

He smiled. “My pleasure. What's your question?”

 

“Well,” Nico said, watching his face as she surreptitiously palmed the lie detector stone she had enchanted a few days ago. “Main Branch has been having some issues with a company called Roxxon. We're trying to keep quiet while the internal investigation is underway, but I'm concerned that those issues might not be limited to Main Branch and the SoCal area. Has this department had any problems with Roxxon?”

 

Arthur looked thoughtful for a few seconds, then he took a long breath before carefully blowing it out. “I suppose you could say that,” he finally said, “although we've taken steps to prevent that in the future. Namely, we no longer work with Roxxon or their subsidiaries. Not since the explosion in the bay years ago.”

 

Now the look between Nico and Karolina was overt, lasting a few seconds and washing away the pleasantries.

 

“What happened in the bay?” asked Nico, her tone no longer light.

 

—O—

 

“Yeah, see what you can find out about that explosion, Alex,” Nico said, talking on her phone as she and Karolina pushed Persy's stroller down the street. It was just after one in the afternoon, and they had enjoyed a wonderful lunch at a breathtaking restaurant called the Cafe Degas, one of Arthur's strongest recommendations. “It's not just the explosion, it's the cover-up, too. A research lab on a supposedly abandoned oil rig blows up, a shockwave hits the city, and there's no real inquiry? _And_ the scientist it gets blamed on just happens to conveniently die, so he can't give his side of the story? Yeah, it's clearly bullshit.”

 

“ _They were willing to work with us, then?”_

 

“Yeah. I used the lie detector on the regional director, too. It didn't ping except when he was talking about his golf game. I think we're good.”

 

“ _Good, good. By the way, thank you again. This new job at Wizard is fantastic.”_

 

“I'm glad you like it,” she said, meaning it deeply.

 

Alex had had the worst last six months of all of them, and it had taken some intensive therapy and sleepless nights divided among all the Runaways sitting up with him after the deaths of his parents. The first action Nico had taken as the new majority owner of Wizard had been to create a Special Projects position just for Alex, so he could have access to Wizard's best technology and computer systems and draw a significant paycheck with full employee benefits, including health care and mental health coverage.

 

Alex had briefly broken down when Nico told him, and she and Karolina had both wrapped him in a group hug for several minutes while he gathered himself. It had taken Persephone getting a good handful of Karolina's hair and yanking on it to break up the hug.

 

The media backlash over Geoffrey and Catherine's deaths had been particularly harsh on Alex, despite him being across the city with multiple witnesses at the time of his parents' “deaths.” The mysterious police bulletin regarding the six of them and Destiny Gonzalez continued to haunt them despite its dismissal as a false report, and another one of those six teens losing both parents, especially within just a few months of Nico's parents dying, looked even more suspicious.

 

But they would survive. Alex was doing better, and Nico and Karolina were both thankful. At this point the pettiness of him keeping secrets about Amy as well as him being romantically interested in Nico at one time had been forgiven and dismissed, as it was now evident that no one was ever coming between Nico and Karolina.

 

“I gave Robichaud your card and told him that if anything came up that needed my personal attention, he needed to contact you at Special Projects. He's also going to have one of the high-ups at IT here get in touch with you today and give you a direct login as well as some info about Roxxon and their computer systems. It seems there are some hard feelings between Roxxon and the New Orleans branch of Wizard, which works well for us.”

 

“ _Perfect.”_

 

“Thanks again, Alex. You want us to bring you anything back?”

 

“ _No, that's okay. Just... you and Karolina and Persephone have a good time, okay? And watch out. New Orleans is a rough city.”_

 

“Will do. Talk to you later.”

 

She ended the call and put the phone back in her pocket. “He should have access to this office's system today. That should get us some more info on Roxxon.”

 

Karolina nodded. “Oh, we're here,” she said, looking up at the number on the old wooden and glass door of the store to their right. A hand-lettered wooden sign proclaimed _Damballah Voodoo Tours and Shop_.

 

“I don't think the stroller'll fit through the doorway,” said Nico, examining the narrow and slightly weathered door.

 

“I'll carry Persy,” said Karolina, bending over and unbuckling their daughter before lifting the snoozing baby out of the stroller.

 

Nico looked around, making sure no one was directly watching them before casting a stasis spell on the stroller and carseat, making sure no one could steal or damage them while the three of them were inside the store. Once that was done, she opened the thin door, holding it so Karolina and the baby could enter.

 

A small bell rang above the door as they entered, the old hinges creaking slightly as the door slowly swung open. Karolina looked around with amazement at the charms and trinkets decorating seemingly every square inch of the modest store, shelves packed full everywhere she looked.

 

“Can I help you?” said a young woman, appearing from around a corner that led deeper into the store. She had mocha skin, jet-black hair that fell onto her shoulders in loose waves and light brown eyes that stared intently at Karolina, widening slightly as she looked first at the blonde, then at the baby in her arms. “ _Oh_ ,” she said, a distinct note of surprise as she looked curiously at Persephone, her focus sharpening as she examined the baby.

 

When Nico closed the door and stepped into the store, the woman's eyes slid to the witch before widening even more; the woman, who appeared to be about their age, took a step back out of reflex as she gasped, “Spirits!”

 

“Nico...?” Karolina asked uneasily, shifting slightly to the side in case she needed to shield Persephone.

 

“Don't look at me,” Nico said to her wife, stepping forward to where she was pressing against Karolina and their child. “I didn't do anything. This time.”

 

The other woman shook her head quickly, and it was unclear if she was fighting back tears or fright. “No, it's—” she began, only to stop, unable to tear her eyes away from Nico. “My apologies for my rudeness, sister,” she said, nodding her head forward slightly. “I just...” she began, only for her voice to trail off.

 

She took a breath, then she smiled. “My name is Evita Fusilier,” she said, clasping her hands in front of her. “I've already seen one divine pairing in my lifetime. I never expected to see another, much less so soon.”

 

“Do you know what she's talking about?” Karolina asked to the side, not taking her eyes completely off the strange woman.

 

“Not a clue.”

 

—O—

 

The spirits had always spoken to Evita Fusilier. Since she took over for her aunt as _mambo_ , the spirits spoke to her even more.

 

When the tall blonde and the baby entered her store, the spirits erupted into a buzz of voices, particularly intrigued by the child.

 

When the woman in black entered her store, the spirits all fled.

 

The woman was powerful magic, dark magic. But her aura wasn't unkind. She had been hurt repeatedly, yet her aura revealed she had chosen not to pursue the path of inflicting pain on others. She had chosen to walk closer to the light, despite who she was. It was no doubt a struggle for her, to rebel against her ancestors, but doing so gave the woman strength, and she had found happiness in her struggle, happiness in the form of her light, her partner.

 

It was a story Evita was familiar with, intimately familiar. And seeing that another divine pairing could find happiness and remain together gave her even more hope for Tyrone and Tandy.

 

—O—

 

Evita wiped at her eyes with her fingers, trying to regain a semblance of control over her emotions.

 

“We're actually looking for someone,” Nico said. She had moved ahead of Karolina, who looked over her wife's shoulder. “Two someones.”

 

Now the third woman nodded. “I know who you seek,” she said, getting her phone. She texted a message to Tyrone, then put the phone back down.

 

“You called me 'sister',” Nico said. “Have we met?”

 

“Not at all,” Evita replied. “But I can feel your power.” She looked at Karolina, meeting the blonde's gaze. “I feel your power as well, but it's not magic. I'm not familiar with what yours is, only that you are light as much as she is darkness. And that you're bound to each other, by fate and by love.”

 

“And by a baby,” Karolina said.

 

“I see that,” Evita said, her eager eyes sliding back to where Karolina was holding Persephone behind Nico. “And that's something else I've never seen. A divine pairing, with child.”

 

A noise like a puff of smoke was the only warning before a young man was standing in the room with them, between Nico and Karolina and Evita.

 

“What are you doing here?!” he asked, voice strained as he glared at Nico. As he spoke, tendrils of what looked like inky smoke began to radiate out from his body.

 

“We came here to talk to you,” Nico said, her right hand twitching with eagerness to draw the Staff of One, which was vibrating with excitement in her bag. She forced herself to not react, despite her instincts. “Roxxon's trying to move into our part of the world, and we think they're dirty as shit.”

 

A soft touch on his arm made Ty jump; Evita pulled away from the contact just as quickly.

 

“They haven't done anything, Ty,” she said. “We were just talking. Do you know them?”

 

Tyrone looked at the witch and blonde again, and now he noticed the baby Karolina was holding. “Yeah,” he answered. “But it looks like some things might have changed since we last met.”

 

“It wasn't exactly the smoothest first meeting,” Nico said, her expression cool once more.

 

“No,” added Karolina. “Not in the least.”

 

“And a lot of that was our fault,” Ty admitted. “But we finally worked through that, I thought.”

 

“We did,” Karolina said, nodding. “That's why we're here. Roxxon just opened an office in Los Angeles. We got a tip that they were involved in some money laundering, and when we checked it out, it turned out to be a LOT worse.”

 

“They were trying to make arrangements with the criminal organizations in LA to set up a place for sex trafficking and forced prostitution,” Nico said, her face now angry. “All of the city's gangs and the Mafia representative told them no, and most of them contacted us to let us know what Roxxon was planning.”

 

A little whine from Persephone made Nico roll her eyes; she turned and saw Persy was staring directly at her. She smiled and took the baby from Karolina, who looked extremely amused as she handed Persy to the baby's other mommy.

 

“We set some rules back in Los Angeles,” Karolina continued. “With the criminal groups. No child prostitution or abuse, no selling drugs to kids or using kids to sell, no rape, no forced prostitution, no trafficking of women, men or kids. So far, it's gone reasonably well.”

 

“We only had to make two examples before everyone fell in line,” Nico said, rubbing her nose against Persy's as she spoke, getting repeated laughs from the infant. She paused and looked up, meeting Tyrone's gaze, and suddenly her expression was cold once more. “Crucifying people is a real attention-getter. Has a good _biblical_ feel to it, you know?”

 

Seeing the looks of shock on the faces of Tyrone and Evita, Karolina quickly said, “Nico didn't drive nails through their hands or feet!”

 

“I did one of them,” Nico replied. “And he absolutely deserved it for what he did to those girls. Now he won't do it to anyone else.”

 

Karolina rolled her eyes as she looked back to Tyrone and Evita. “She didn't do that to _most_ of them. She kicked their asses, then tied them to the posts and put them up for a few hours, for everyone to see. The police got them down and arrested them before any of them died!”

 

Nico sighed. “You took all the fun out of it, Kar,” she said quietly.

 

“I don't want these people thinking you're a homicidal maniac, sweetheart.”

 

Nico shrugged. “Some people need to think that, to keep them in line. I don't mind being the boogeyman that all the gangs and families are scared of.”

 

Karolina's left hand came up and gently pressed against the back of Nico's neck as the blonde slid closer to her wife. “I know,” she said tenderly. “You carry that burden, that image, so the rest of us don't have to. Even though the people who love you know that's not all that you are.”

 

Nico's eyes closed at Karolina's touch, just for a moment before they snapped back open again, fixing on Tyrone. “It's not all that I am, but it is part of me,” she said firmly, never taking her eyes off Cloak.

 

Karolina's smile never dimmed. “And I love all of you,” she said, leaning down and placing a kiss on Nico's cheek where her hand had just been. “Even the scary parts.”

 

“Tandy and I have done some similar things,” Ty admitted. “Some people, you have to convince. Others you can't convince, and you have to deal with them... in other ways.”

 

“Exactly,” Nico said. “Kids are off limits in our city. We're making that as clear as we can.”

 

“So where does Roxxon tie into this?” asked Ty.

 

Persy started to fuss a bit, as her other mommy's attention needed to be on her, not the other people. Nico looked at Karolina, who pulled a pacifier out of the diaper bag, removed it from the carrying case and handed it to Nico.

 

“Thanks, baby,” Nico said softly, giving the blonde a soft smile, then she started rubbing the pacifier against Persy's mouth before popping it into the girl's mouth on the second pass.

 

Karolina watched for a few delightful seconds, then she returned to Ty and Evita. “The Roxxon office we destroyed had files that indicated that they were going to bring in their slaves, because that's pretty much what they are, from outside using a cargo ship, to try and go under our radar. It also said that the ship was picking up drugs and equipment for drug labs in New Orleans.”

 

Nico added, “They didn't mention you and Dagger by name, but one of the emails said that they were moving some of their 'off-label pharmaceutical equipment'—“

 

“Drugs and the stuff to make it,” Karolina interjected.

 

“—Out of New Orleans and to Los Angeles, because their profits here were going down due to 'recurrent active extralegal interference,' as they put it.”

 

Nico paused to look at Karolina. “I like all the euphemisms.”

 

Karolina smiled. “You would.”

 

“So we're trying to find this ship, the _Roxxon Acapulco_ , and where it's going to be docking, so we can take them out before they get to California. We've already got someone working on breaking into Roxxon's computer system, but we wanted to talk to you and Dagger before blowing the hell out of anything in your city.”

 

“Appreciate that,” Tyrone said, nodding.

 

“Because _some_ of us are polite and considerate of others.”

 

Ty looked down at the shorter witch. “Couldn't resist, could you?”

 

“Nope.”

 

The young man nodded again. “I'll call Tandy. How long do you think it'll take to find anything about the ship?”

 

“No clue. If Alex hasn't gotten anything before four or five, then we might have to get more creative with tracking it down.”

 

“How about your magic stick?”

 

Nico audibly sighed, while Karolina tried not to laugh. “It's called the Staff of One,” said the dark-haired woman. “And I try to be judicious with using it.”

 

Ty looked at Evita, and a weighty look crossed between them. “All magic has a price, right?” he said, looking back at Nico.

 

She held his gaze. “Pretty much so, yeah.” She looked at Evita. A knowing, sad look came across the other woman's face, and Nico now knew why the woman, Evita, had referred to her as “sister.” They had both paid their own prices for what they had.

 

“Have you eaten lunch yet?” Karolina asked Evita, who looked surprised at the change in subject.

 

“No,” she replied.

 

“Then let's get you something to eat. We had kind of a brunch already, but we could get a little something for ourselves and lunch for you. We'll even pay.”

 

Evita looked at Ty, who shrugged his shoulders.

 

“I could eat,” he said, grinning.

 

—O—

 

The five of them—six, counting Persephone—sat on the floor of an abandoned church. Two large quilts were spread out beneath them, and a small pile of food had been set out in the middle, sandwiches, po' boys, fries, hushpuppies and popcorn shrimp. Drinks had been set nearby, off the quilts.

 

“This food really is amazing,” Nico said around a mouthful of shrimp as she held Persy, who was currently sleeping. “Didn't realize I was still hungry.”

 

“The food's fantastic, but pretty spicy,” Karolina added. “I like it, though.” She looked around. “I like the choice of shelter, too. Not entirely different than what we've got at home.”

 

“Uh, I saw your house,” Tandy said, her expression cool. “On one of those gossip sites running a story about the two of you, a few days ago. That's got to be at least a million-dollar house, so don't try to say you live in something like this.”

 

“We don't live there,” Nico said. “That's the house where I grew up. We have a portal in it that connects back to the Hostel that we keep closed. The trigger rune's invisible. When we think we're being followed, we use the house to throw off suspicion and make it look like we live there, but once we go inside, we teleport back to the Hostel.”

 

Ty gave the two Runaways a look. “You're telling me that you've got a million-dollar house that's not being used except _just for show?!”_

 

Nico leaned forward, not liking the tone in Ty's voice. “I'm telling you we've got a big fancy house that was left to me because everyone else in my family is _dead_ and that we use it to try to keep all the people who want to _kill us_ from finding out where we really live,” she said, her voice not soft in the least. “Is that a problem?”

 

“I don't think I could sleep in the house where I grew up,” said Karolina, trying to calm everyone's hackles. “Not any more. And I know Nico can't.”

 

“Too many bad memories of missing curfew or only making a B on a math test?” Tandy said, giving Karolina an angry glare. “Some of us dealt with some real shit growing up. All of you had it ridiculously easy.”

 

“Yeah? How many people did _your_ parents murder?” Nico shot back, looking angrily at the short-haired blonde. “How many times did they try to _kill you?!”_

 

“HEY!” Evita said, raising her voice.

 

A weak cry came from Persephone, quickly growing until it was a full-blown wail. Nico's eyes snapped to Evita, but before she could say anything, Karolina's hand covered Nico's forearm.

 

“Evita's right,” she said, meeting her wife's angry gaze and not backing down. “Having a pissing contest about who had it worst growing up isn't going to do a damn thing to stop that cargo ship and free those girls and boys.” She reached out to Nico, whose eyes were still fiery. “Hand her to me, please. She can tell when you're angry, and she won't go back to sleep if you're holding her while you're mad.”

 

Nico hesitated only a moment before she wrested her temper back under control. Karolina and Persy weren't whom she was mad at, and she didn't want them to feel the brunt of her full pissiness. She nodded, handing a crying Persy over to Karolina, who threw a blanket over her chest and shoulder, then lowered one strap of her dress and her bra to feed her daughter.

 

“Karolina and Evita are right,” Nico admitted. “We're here to let you know that we're going to be dealing with this situation because it's in your town, and we wanted to notify you before things literally explode. We didn't come to fight or argue. We'll deal with these assholes tonight, then we'll head back home.”

 

“It's our town,” Tandy said. “We're coming too.”

 

“Absolutely,” Ty said, nodding as he looked at his partner.

 

“I'm coming, too,” said another voice, making Nico and Karolina both turn and look. A woman who appeared to be in her early to mid-30s was climbing down the scaffolding. She was wearing an olive jacket that looked almost military with white bands around both upper arms, jeans and hiking shoes. “If the harbor patrol spots you, having a police presence should keep them from shooting at you.”

 

Tyrone and Tandy looked at each other again.

 

“Couldn't hurt,” Ty said, getting a quiet nod from Tandy.

 

The woman stopped at the edge of the quilts, giving Karolina and Nico a careful once-over. “New friends?” she said, looking at Tandy and Tyrone.

 

“More colleagues, I'd say,” Tyrone replied.

 

Nico looked up at the woman. “We're not exactly friendly,” she said, giving the woman a cold smile.

 

“Karolina is,” Tandy and Tyrone both said at the same time, making Evita laugh.

 

Nico shrugged her shoulders and nodded. “Yeah, Karolina is,” she admitted. “I'm the bitch in the marriage.”

 

Karolina slipped her right arm back into her dress's strap, then she switched sides with Persephone, letting the baby nurse on the other breast.

 

“Is that a _kid?”_ Brigid asked, a bit surprised.

 

Karolina nodded. “She's our daughter.”

 

“We weren't going to leave her at home for the entire day,” Nico said. “We'll get a sitter before we raid the cargo ship.”

 

O'Reilly looked down at Tyrone and Tandy. “And I thought _you two_ were reckless,” she said bluntly. “Jesus Christ.”

 

“She's only three months old,” Karolina said, not liking this new woman. “We wouldn't want to be away from her that long!”

 

“No, we wouldn't,” Nico said, her voice softening. She carefully reached under the nursing blanket and placed her right index finger in Persephone's tiny left hand, smiling when the baby reflexively grasped it and squeezed. “Her mommies would miss this little girl too much.”

 

“And who the fuck _are_ you?” asked Brigid.

 

Nico looked up at Brigid, not removing her hand from beneath the blanket. “I'm Sister Grimm, she's Starlight.”

 

“They're from Los Angeles,” Ty said. “They told us about the Roxxon cargo ship.”

 

“Yeah, about that,” O'Reilly said, stepping onto the blanket before sitting down and picking up a po' boy. “I checked the shipping manifests. There's nothing about a _Roxxon Acapulco_ docking anywhere for the next week.”

 

“Let me check on that.” She pulled out her phone and dialed Alex. “Any luck on that boat?”

 

“ _It's a ship, Nico, not a boat.”_

 

Nico grinned. “I know that. I just like making you correct me.”

 

“ _According to the Acapulco's transponder and recent course, it should reach New Orleans just after ten pm local time. Of course, that exact time is going to vary, depending on exactly which port it uses to dock.”_

 

“A police contact says that there's nothing indicating that ship is coming to any of the ports for the next week.”

 

“ _The plan that we found said that it was stopping at a place called Gold Santa Fe.”_

 

“Does the name 'Gold Santa Fe' mean anything to any of you?” Nico asked, looking at the others. “That's where the cargo ship was going, according to the files we took from the Roxxon office.”

 

“Gold Santa Fe?” asked Tandy, looking confused.

 

“Yeah, never heard of that,” added Tyrone.

 

Brigid shook her head. “Nothing I've ever heard of. Either of us.”

 

Nico and Karolina shared a quick look of confusion before Evita spoke.

 

“I have no idea either.”

 

“I know who would know, though,” Tandy said. “Scarborough.”

 

“Okay, um, Computer... Person,” Nico said, not wanting to use Alex's name in front of people she had just met. “Keep working on it, and thanks.”

 

“ _I'll start trying to ping the transponder every now and then. Maybe I can plot out a likely port with enough data points as they get closer.”_

 

“Awesome. Text us if you get anything.”

 

“ _Definitely. Good luck.”_

 

“Thanks.” She ended the call and closed the phone.

 

“So how do we find this Scarborough?” asked Karolina, getting her dress straightened out and putting the blanket on her shoulder to burp Persephone again.

 

“It's not finding him that's the problem,” Ty said. “It's getting any information out of him.”

 

Tandy looked back at Tyrone, then she faced Nico and Karolina again. “We trapped him in his own mind,” she said. “It was what he had condemned several others to suffer, stuck in a never-ending loop. He deserves it.”

 

“And getting him out of it might—”

 

“We're not getting him out of it,” Tandy said quickly.

 

Tyrone turned to look down at Tandy. “Tandy...”

 

“We're not releasing him! He is a piece of _shit_ who's responsible for _dozens_ of people dying, including my father!”

 

Tandy held Tyrone's gaze, her body language clearly heated and ready to lash out were he to argue with her.

 

“Maybe Mina might know, then,” Ty suggested.

 

Seeing that he wasn't going to push helping Scarborough, Tandy visibly relaxed. “Maybe,” she said. “And maybe her dad might know, too.”

 

—O—

 

“Gold Santa Fe?” Mina Hess wrinkled her nose as she concentrated, still holding a pipette in her hands.

 

They were in her home laboratory, where she was busy taking samples of the water in numerous different containers with various plants growing in them.

 

“I can't say I've ever heard of anything like that,” she finally said. She leaned to the side and yelled, “DAD!”

 

A muffled reply came from inside the two-level house, but it was unintelligible. Mina sighed and placed her pipette down on a towel, then she walked into the house. Tandy followed immediately, while Tyrone took a second before he did the same, with Nico shrugging, then following Tyrone. Karolina decided to stick with everyone else. At least Persephone was being quiet for the moment.

 

“Dad,” Mina said, stopping in front of a man who was on an exercise bench, using resistance bands to work on strengthening his legs. “Do you ever remember any place in Roxxon called 'Gold Santa Fe'?”

 

Ivan Hess stopped his exercises and looked up. His forehead was beaded with sweat, and the front of his shirt and collar were likewise damp with perspiration. “Gold Santa Fe...” he said. “That's an _old_ term.” He looked up at his daughter and her friends, two of whom he had never met.

 

“Hi,” said the tall blonde who was holding a young baby with short, light hair. “I'm Karolina. And this is Persephone.”

 

“I'm Nico,” said the other woman, shorter than his daughter and dressed in all black. “We'd appreciate anything you can think of to help us.”

 

Ivan looked at his daughter, who had an questing expression on her face that her father was quite familiar with. “Gold was the term Roxxon used for their off-shore oil rigs when they were in the planning phase. Each one also had a specific code name to identify it, a randomly-determined city in the U.S. I don't remember which rig was which city, though. That was too many years ago.”

 

“An offshore platform,” Nico said, turning to Karolina. “They wouldn't have to dock at a port.”

 

Mina gave her father a hug. “Thanks, Dad,” she said.

 

“You're welcome,” Ivan said, waving to Tandy and Tyrone, who returned the wave and smile. “Nice to meet you ladies,” he added to the other two women.

 

“Yes, sir,” Nico replied. “And thank you.”

 

The five of them left Ivan to his physical therapy as they moved back out to Mina's lab. Nico was already on her dumbphone by the time they reached the work area.

 

“It's an offshore oil rig,” she said as soon as Alex picked up.

 

“ _Oh, that makes sense. There are dozens of abandoned off-shore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. I'll get a map of their locations and start trying to plot likely suspects based on the GPS pings of the Acapulco.”_

 

“Thanks, Tech Support,” Nico said with a smile.

 

“ _Ha ha.”_

 

She ended the call, sliding the phone back into her bag.

 

“Thank you, Mina,” Tandy said, lightly grasping her friend's upper arm. “This is going to help some people who really need it.”

 

Mina looked carefully at Tandy for several seconds, though her face remained open and friendly. “I don't know who your friends are,” she finally said, “but I know that you and Cloak help people.” Seeing the look on Tandy's face, Mina laughed. “Come _on_ , Tandy! You don't even do anything to cover your face! I saw you when you saved me from that creepy guy with the trumpet. I don't remember much, but I remember seeing your face when I was myself again.”

 

She took Tandy's free hand in both of her own. “ _Thank you._ You saved my dad, and you've saved me, more than once. You gave me part of my family back. I can't ever repay you for that, but I'm going to try. And don't worry, I'm not going to tell anyone. Not even Dad.”

 

“It was our pleasure,” Tandy said. “It's nice to know that there are still genuinely good people in the world. Please don't ever lose that.”

 

“I won't. That's the one thing the world can't take from us—our principles.”

 

Tandy nodded. “Thank you. Again.”

 

“Any time.”

 

—O—

 

After another two hours, Alex was able to narrow the likely candidates for the _Acapulco_ 's destination down to three offshore platforms, two of which were officially inactive, with the third actively producing oil for a different company. Of the two that were no longer used for oil production, one was officially abandoned and the other was listed as used for research and development. They had used Brigid's phone to verify the coordinates of the three platforms and work out which was which from their vantage point on the shore, high atop a large cargo crane on the shoreline. All three of the platforms were worryingly close to shore, should disaster strike.

 

Night had fallen at this point, and the _Acapulco_ was now barely visible from the shore, although the visibility was starting to decline due to a fog rolling in from the sea.

 

“Tandy and I will go get the victims off the ship,” Tyrone said, pointing at their destination. “Brigid's going to be waiting on one of the docks with a sex trafficking intervention team. Ambulances, paramedics, counselors, translators, shelter workers. We told them to prepare for up to thirty victims.”

 

“Kar and I will scout the platforms, then hit the right one once we find it,” Nico said, holding Persephone and drawing a portal in the air as she spoke. She was wearing a pair of short black leather shorts, a diaphanous black long-sleeved top that revealed a black bra with lace trim and a print of red ravens in flight, black and silver Asics running shoes and sheer black stockings that climbed nearly to the hem of her shorts. Her hair was pulled back in two braids, falling down her back.

 

Tyrone and Tandy stopped speaking and watched as purple lines traced through the air, forming a circle with runes running its circumference. Violet sparks fell downward as Nico's hand traced the circular path, until finally the center of the circle became something else entirely, widening until the shimmering section was taller than Nico.

 

“Hey guys,” Nico called out into the portal.

 

Chase stepped into view, eating a sandwich. “Hey, Nico,” he said while chewing. “What's up?”

 

“Need a babysitter for a bit. Shit's about to go down.”

 

Chase nodded. “Cool. I'll take the little squirt. Hey, Karolina.”

 

“Hey, Chase,” Karolina said as she stepped forward, setting the diaper bag inside the portal and on the floor beside their friend. For tonight, she was wearing a short yellow half-jacket over a cut-off pink t-shirt, capri khakis and black high-top Converse Chuck Taylors.

 

Nico moved forward as Karolina moved to the side, the blonde pausing to place a kiss on Persephone's head before Nico handed her to Chase.

 

“Go to Uncle Chase,” the jet-haired witch said, handing the infant, who was fully occupied sucking on her pacifier, to the taller man.

 

Karolina leaned in beside Nico. “She's got some milk in the refrigerator that I left this morning. It's still good, you'll just want to warm it up a bit.”

 

“Okay, no prob. How long you think you'll be?”

 

Nico shrugged. “An hour or two? Hard to say.”

 

“We've got you covered. Have fun.”

 

Nico leaned into the portal and kissed Persephone's head as well. “See you soon, Persy!” she said cheerily. Then she stepped back and waved her hand through the runes, closing the portal.

 

“You need a lift to the platforms?” asked Tyrone.

 

“Thanks, but we've got it,” Nico said as Karolina illuminated into purple and pink light.

 

“You're not exactly invisible,” Tyrone pointed out.

 

Nico smiled as Karolina picked her up in a bridal carry. The witch made a gesture with her hands, and the two of them vanished. “How about now?” Nico's voice said.

 

Tyrone couldn't help but smile. “Yeah, I guess that works.”

 

Tandy rolled her eyes as she turned her back on the two others. “You _are_ going to let us know which one's the right target once you find it?”

 

“Oh, you won't have any trouble finding it,” said Karolina's voice. There was a rush of air being displaced that Tandy and Ty felt before dissipating.

 

“Still don't like them,” Tandy said.

 

“Well, they probably don't like us much either,” Ty replied.

 

“Bunch of rich kids slumming it for kicks.”

 

“Who were charged with murder, which, I can remind you, is not much fun. And they _did_ deal with the murders in Los Angeles, long before we got there.”

 

“And most of the people involved are still free!”

 

“Tandy,” Tyrone said. “I get that you don't like them. But we're all here to help rescue some people that really need help _and_ to shut down a drug lab before it gets started.”

 

The blonde sighed. “Alright,” she said, throwing up her hands. “I'm being ridiculous. I get it!”

 

Ty put his hand on her shoulder as she stood facing across the Gulf. “I think all of us have grown up a lot since our childhoods. They've got a freaking _baby_ , Tandy. They're _parents_.”

 

“And that's a good idea?! Ty, they could get _killed!_ Tonight! Where's that going to leave their baby?”

 

“With the rest of their family, if that happens. But they think this is important enough to take that risk, and they're right.”

 

Ty stepped forward, until he was just behind Tandy. He considered saying what he was thinking, that Tandy absolutely understood, because she had been moments away from being sexually assaulted, numbed and left defenseless by monsters who preyed upon the suffering of lost women.

 

But Ty was kind, and smart, and he knew Tandy well enough that he knew _not_ to bring that time up again. If she wanted to talk to him about it, then she'd bring it up. It was her nightmare memory, not his. It should be hers to remember, or to forget. His responsibility was to be here for her. For his best friend.

 

“Just letting you know I'm about to give you a hug,” he said quietly. The blonde nodded, not speaking, so he suspected she was fighting back tears. Best not to mention those either. Instead he quietly wrapped his arms around his partner, and she reached up and held those arms tightly as he did so, infinitely grateful for Tyrone's quiet strength and support.

 

—O—

 

Under Nico's invisibility spell, cast with her own budding sorcery, Karolina shot across the sea, just a few meters above the rising and falling waves.

 

“You holding up okay?” she asked her wife.

 

“Yeah, I'm good,” Nico replied. “I can do this for a while.”

 

“I'll try to hurry.”

 

The nearest platform was the abandoned one. They were on it in less than a minute, and it looked genuinely abandoned. Doors to the interior of the structure were chained and locked, no boats or small vessels were tied up, and no activity was visible on the structure at all.

 

“Looks empty,” Karolina whispered as they hovered.

 

Nico nodded. “Next one?” she replied, also at a whisper.

 

Karolina nodded, then launched them into motion again.

 

The next platform was the one ostensibly used for research and development. This one had a significant amount of activity visible, with a medium-sized boat moored at one of the docks at the platform's legs. Only a handful of lights were on, only shining out toward the ocean, and no less than a dozen people stood on the uppermost level of the structure, gathered around a large crane. Two cargo containers were beside the crane, with a third one already suspended on the massive hook at the end of the crane's cable, waiting to be lowered.

 

It was suspicious enough activity for nearly eleven o'clock at night, but two other observations removed any doubt Nico and Karolina held that this was the place. First, most of the people standing around had assault rifles. Second, one of the two women in the group had entirely chalk-white skin. She was dressed in work clothes, though considerably less than the rest of the workers, considering a storm was threatening, and she had a look of menace and anger on her face.

 

“What the fuck is she?” whispered Karolina to Nico.

 

“Not a fucking clue,” replied Nico. “But we should probably find out.”

 

“Is she a vampire? Is that possible?”

 

“Yeah, it's possible. And if she is, you're pretty much concentrated sunlight, so she's fucked.”

 

Karolina tried not to giggle.

 

—O—

 

Tandy and Tyrone materialized somewhere in the three-dimensional labyrinth of hundreds of metal cargo containers sprawling upward as well as around them, surrounded by his swirling darkness that helped conceal them.

 

Tandy led the way, creeping forward quietly as Ty followed, maintaining the cloud of darkness. Tandy paused as she peeked around the wall of containers. She pulled her head back in, turning to look at Ty. She held up a single raised finger, then pointed to her right around the corner, followed by a grasping motion.

 

Ty nodded, then waited as Tandy walked _inside_ him, vanishing from sight.

 

Seconds later, a large, portly man carrying a pistol holstered at his belt walked across the opening between the stacks of cargo containers. In less than a second, the darkness had reached out and swallowed him.

 

As the man fell onto a solid part of the darkness surrounding him, he screamed with terror. Tandy appeared behind him, materializing one of her light daggers to slice through the man's belt as he lay on what passed for ground in the darkness. She yanked the belt off him, tossing it some distance away.

 

“Where are the girls?!” she shouted at the man, who scuttled away, reaching for a pistol that was no longer there.

 

She threw the dagger, embedding it in his left leg and getting a cry of pain in return.

 

“Where are the girls?!” she shouted again, this time moving to where he could see her as another glowing white blade appeared in her hand.

 

“P-Please!” he sputtered.

 

This time the razor-sharp blade sunk into his left arm. He screamed again.

 

“Look,” Tandy said, squatting down but staying far enough away that she stayed out of his reach. “You've got lots more soft parts that I can stab. So far I haven't hit anything that won't heal, provided you start talking. That's going to change real quick.”

 

The man felt cold creeping in from all around, like he was outside in a blizzard, but there was no snow, the air was still, and there nothing to see except the woman with glowing knives.

 

“I-I don't know which container they're in!” he stammered. “I do know there's four guys who came on board with them, and they'll be close by!”

 

“What do they look like? The guys?”

 

“Like trouble! I've been a longshoreman and sailor m-my whole life, and I wouldn't want to mess with those guys!”

 

Tandy stood. “If you're telling the truth, I'll come back for you.” She turned and walked away, vanishing before his eyes.

 

Tyrone felt the brief sensation of fullness he always did as Tandy emerged from the darkness. “There's a group of four guys who look like bad news guarding the container we want.”

 

“Is it just one container?”

 

Tandy considered that. “Good point. I guess we'll have to ask.”

 

“Are you going to say please?”

 

Tandy turned to look at Tyrone. “Hell no.”

 

—O—

 

Still under cover of invisibility, Karolina flew Nico onto the large open deck at the platform, letting the smaller woman stand on her own again but not breaking contact with her yet.

 

“Love you,” Karolina whispered, kissing Nico's invisible lips after missing and getting her cheek first.

 

“Love you too,” Nico replied, just as quietly. “Be careful.”

 

“Same.”

 

They turned to face the multiple armed men and women, all of whom had their backs turned to where Nico and Karolina had positioned themselves at the door going back into the platform. Nico dropped the invisibility spell, and as soon as Karolina could see her wife again, she turned and grasped the latching handle to the door, holding it to keep it from turning as she used a focused stream of light to partially weld a section of the thick steel door to the frame.

 

As Karolina started on the door, Nico raised the Staff of One and called out, _“No guns on this offshore platform!”_ as she faced the others standing together across the open section.

 

The entire contingent of men and women standing outside whirled around, but the assault rifles and pistols were already crumbling into fine dust as they tried to pull the triggers, the gray particles blowing away in the tossing wind.

 

The chalk-white woman, sporting long, straight black hair that blew in the wind, glared at the intruders. “Who the fuck are you?” she snarled, her raised voice angry and harsh.

 

“We're shutting down your drug lab and your little 'shipment' that's headed for California. Do you have any more slaves here on this rig?”

 

“No,” said the woman, shifting her weight to a confident pose. “These assholes out here couldn't be trusted not to damage the merchandise.”

 

The hissing of superheated metal stopped, and Karolina turned around to face the outside workers; at the same time, banging from inside the door started as someone tried to force it open.

 

“Oh, heroes. How precious,” said the strange woman. “I heard you looked different. And that one of you was a boy.”

 

“I think you've got us confused with someone else,” Nico said as Karolina moved forward, glowing brightly as she hovered beside her wife.

 

The white woman pulled a walkie-talkie from her belt.

 

“Tell them to evacuate the platform,” Nico said, raising her voice loud enough to be heard through the rising storm. “Anyone who heads for the lifeboats, because we saw you've got them, we'll let go without any trouble.”

 

“And anyone else?” said a particularly large man who looked like he was two meters tall and had no intention of going to a lifeboat.

 

Nico smiled. She shifted her position, releasing the Staff, which hovered behind her as she took two steps forward. She stopped, then made subtle, practiced gestures with the fingers of both hands as she extended her right arm downward, her hand slightly closed, as if grasping a weapon. A soft hissing sound accompanied the appearance of glowing purple runes similar to those of her portals or mystic shields, runes that extended in a slightly curved line that began at her right hand and continued just over a meter in length. A shimmer of violet, and the runes became a softly glowing katana held in her right hand.

 

“Anyone else gets to send Roxxon a message,” Nico said, her voice still raised. “Stay the fuck out of Los Angeles.”

 

—O—

 

Tandy waited, watching through the smoke-lined portal from the dark dimension back into the regular world. When all four of the guards she was currently watching had their backs turned to her, she shot forward.

 

The closest one got a light dagger stabbed in his brainstem, just below the base of the skull. The second thug, standing beside the first, was dealt with the same way, killed before the first one's body hit the deck. Dagger flung two knives at the third guard, both of them slicing deeply into his throat and severing his carotid arteries and jugular veins on each side. He weakly grasped at the knives, managing to slice off most of his fingers trying to pull the razor-sharp light constructs out of his neck before succumbing.

 

The fourth guard found himself swallowed by darkness briefly before he felt stabbing, searing pain in both of his armpits, with both arms going numb immediately. Then he felt the keen edge of a knife against his throat as a short blonde woman looked up at him angrily.

 

“How many containers have the slaves in them?” she hissed, keeping her voice low. When he didn't reply right away, she lightly drew the edge of her dagger across the skin of his throat, releasing a burning pain as the skin easily parted. “HOW. MANY.”

 

“F-Four,” he said. “What did you—”

 

She used her left hand to grab his face on each side of his mouth, stopping him from speaking, the knife still at his throat. The white light from the dagger illuminated her face irregularly, but her fury was clear. “No, you don't talk, except to tell me what I know,” she said in a low voice. “You're going to show me which containers, and if you do that, we let you live. Is that a deal?”

 

Very carefully, the man nodded the barest bit. “This one behind me is one. Then the one next to it.”

 

Dagger stepped back, pulling the man to the side and releasing her grip on him in preparation to cut the lock on the cargo container. As soon as he was free, he turned and tried to run, arms hanging limply.

 

“Asshole,” she muttered, throwing her light blade into the back of his neck; the impossibly sharp edge severed bone and spinal cord alike, sending him collapsing to the ground.

 

She turned to Ty. “Looks like I'll have to find the other two while you get the people in these two to the shore.”

 

Tyrone nodded.

 

Tandy turned, another dagger glowing in her right hand as she turned and examined the nearest metal shipping containers; Ty disappeared, followed by muffled frightened screams from inside the container that quickly stopped as he calmed down the terrified prisoners.

 

The two containers the guard had indicated were both here, side by side. It made sense for the other two to be the ones on top of them, to facilitate quick unloading and to keep them all together. Hoping she was right, Tandy climbed up to the next level of containers, using her strong toes to hold her position on the narrow edge of the bottom container while she cut a hole at eye level with her dagger. She tapped the metal circle inward, where it fell with a clatter she didn't like. She quickly heard whispers and shushed voices from inside the container. Lifting her glowing dagger, she illuminated the interior, seeing three dirty, terrified boys who looked to be in their teens. She lifted a finger to her lips, and they quickly fell silent.

 

She held onto the ribbed walls of the metal shipping container as she walked around to the adjacent one, toeing the edge as she moved quietly.

 

The report of a gunshot, following by the _spang_ of a bullet striking metal close to her, wasn't good. She quickly moved to the other side, only to see that three men were quickly heading her way from the front section of the ship. She dropped to the ship's deck, coming up from her crouch throwing a brace of three light daggers at the approaching men. All three hit, but two knives stuck in the nearest man, and the farthest one was untouched. He lifted a pistol and started shooting while he was running, making her take cover.

 

As she dodged around the nearest container, she hear the puff that sometimes heralded Ty's appearance. “They spotted me,” she said. “The container above this one has three boys that I could see, and I bet the one beside it is the fourth.”

 

Tyrone nodded. “I'm done with the bottom two containers. Nine women and girls, all of them now at the rescue site with Brigid.”

 

“Nice. Mind to give a girl a hand?” Tandy asked, a bit excitedly, as she held up a hand full of light daggers tucked between her fingers.

 

Ty replied with a smile.

 

—O—

 

A half-dozen men charged Nico and Karolina all at once. That made it easy for Karolina to drop several of them with a wide blast of pink, purple and yellow light, sending them flying backwards and onto their backs. Two of them on the left (from the heroes' point of view) rapidly closed with Nico, while the one on the right tried to tackle Karolina.

 

Karolina slid to the side, dodging her attacker, who lunged at her again with similar lack of success. “Do the people inside have another way out besides that door over there?” she asked, sliding out of the path of his wild swings at her head and chest.

 

“Stand still!” the grimy man snapped at her.

 

“Okay,” the glowing woman said, manifested a glowing hard light field around her body right before his fist contacted it.

 

“ _Agh!”_ he snapped as his fist hit the solid mass of energy, singing the hair on his hand as well as bruising the soft tissue.

 

“Seriously, do they have another way out?” Karolina asked, hovering just out of his reach as the man clutched his right wrist and looked at his right hand. “Because I'd really like everyone to able to get to the lifeboats before we bring this thing down.”

 

“There's... another door,” he said, clutching his right wrist still. “That they can get out.”

 

“Good,” she said. “Go tell—”

 

She was interrupted by an ax slamming into the energy field. The solid light deflected the metal head of the ax forcefully, hard enough to send the tool flying from the hands of the woman who had swung it at her.

 

Karolina turned and blasted the woman several meters away, sending her into a large crate with a painful-sounding crash. “I was _talking!”_ she yelled as the woman collapsed to the metal deck. “Rude!”

 

—O—

 

Nico met the first two men charging her with a step to her left and a powerful slash across her body, essentially cutting the closer assailant in two as she continued her strike through the second, the mystic blade parting bone as easily as muscle and sinew, leaving both men dying as they fell. She twisted with the strike, using the momentum to rotate her body around in time to meet the next attacker. This one swung a length of chain at her which she avoided by lunging forward, blade driving through his chest and heart as she shortened the distance between the two of them to where the impact of the chain on her left shoulder was negligible.

 

She used her legs to drive the dying man back a few steps, turning the angle of the violet blade in her hands so that she could slice upward to free her weapon as the man's body continued to fall, his mass blocking the attack of the three that were moving in next. Nico turned as she repositioned her weapon in front of her, shifting her blade to block the fire ax that one man swung at her; the ax's own momentum was enough to cut it in two when the weapon's metal shaft met the glowing katana composed entirely of magic and runes. It took only a flick of Nico's wrists to push the tip of her weapon through the man's right lung as his charge carried him forward, and like the ax, his own momentum provided all the force needed for the magic blade to continue to slice through his chest, arm and back.

 

The other two drew back, reconsidering their next moves as the diminutive dark-haired woman returned to her ready position, smirking at them from the other side of the partially transparent katana, the mystic runes running the length of the blade and handle still glowing a soft violet.

 

—O—

 

Karolina relaxed but didn't turn off her energy field as she punched one of the two enforcers who charged her now, feeling something in the man's face crack with the force of the blow. The other slid behind her and drove a punch into her right side, low and hard. Both Karolina and her attacker cried out with the blow, her from the sting of pain, him from the burn caused by her energy field. She slid to the side as he threw another punch, this one slightly off-target as it hit her in the left shoulder. She started to turn to deal with him, then she saw a large metal box come flying at her.

 

She raised her arms and blasted the box, sending twisted metal plates and tools flying as the box shattered before it connected with her. She saw the pale woman with black hair grinning at her from well over twenty meters away, but she had no time to do or say anything before something hard hit her in the back. Her energy field blunted some of the impact of the long metal rod, but it still felt like something in her left ribs popped from the blow. She whirled around, snatched the long rod from the man's hand and blasted him off the platform, down into the dark waters forty meters below.

 

She turned around to check on the strange alabaster woman; she was just in time to see something else flying at her. She dropped the metal rod and blasted the oddly-shaped white object before it reached her, not registering that it was a propane tank until her light blast connected.

 

—O—

 

“She's down there!” yelled the man who had been shooting at the girl in white on the container deck far below. He was up on the top level of the bridge structure at the _Acapulco_ 's aft, and a simple hunting rifle was more than enough to suffice for his security job. “No, no!” he yelled to the other guards on the deck below, gesturing toward his right, the ship's starboard. “She went off to the side!”

 

“She's right here.”

 

The man turned around quickly enough to see a white piece of light streaking toward his throat, followed by a burning pain and warmth beginning to saturate his left shoulder and chest. He grabbed at his throat, trying to stop the forceful bleeding until he mercifully blacked out a few seconds later, prior to dying.

 

“Thanks,” Tandy said, smiling at Tyrone. “I'll deal with the pilot and rest of the crew. You get the other girls out. They should be in the containers on top of the first ones.”

 

“I should be able to feel their fear when I'm close enough. It was... pretty intense with the first two groups.”

 

“We're almost done,” Tandy said, patting his shoulder.

 

“With this part. Then we have to figure out which—”

 

An explosion lit up part of one of the two offshore platforms along their path.

 

“Guess we know which one now,” Tyrone said.

 

Tandy nodded. “Get the girls and boys. I've got the rest here.” She turned and started running down the narrow deck, following the railing. Behind her, Tyrone vanished into a puff of darkness again.

 

—O—

 

Nico's ears were ringing as she quickly scrambled back to her feet after the unexpected blast off to her side had knocked her down onto the hard metal deck.

 

“Starlight!” she screamed, taking in a breath to scream for her lover again when she saw Karolina's glowing form fly out of a cloud of white smoke and fluttering debris.

 

“Ni—Princess!” Karolina yelled out, too startled to remember Nico's hero name and only barely able to stop herself from shouting out Nico's real name, instead just going with the first thing that came to mind. She flew over in a pink and purple streak, wrapping her arms around the smaller woman. “Oh my God, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hit that propane tank!”

 

Nico was looking over Karolina's shoulder, about to say something about calling her “princess” when she saw a forklift come out of the smoke cloud, flying directly at them.

 

“Kar!” Nico yelled, using both hands to throw up a mystic shield to intercept the six-ton work vehicle; it stopped the forklift, which crashed to the deck, but even with the shield the sheer force of the heavy vehicle flying at them was powerful enough to send the two women, both of whom were currently hovering, hurtling backward into the outer wall of the platform's habitat.

 

Karolina had no idea what was happening, but seeing herself and Nico suddenly sent speeding toward the thick steel wall made her create an energy bubble around them as a reflex. That mitigated enough of the impact against the steel wall to keep from breaking Nico's back or skull, and Karolina's arms and shoulders, wrapped around her wife, absorbed the rest of the impact with only modest injuries.

 

The sudden acceleration and equally sudden stop left both women stunned and off-balance, though, and both of them dropped onto shaky legs that gave way, leaving them both on the deck momentarily.

 

“You two bitches should have stayed in California,” came a sneering voice from the cloud of smoke still lingering on the upper deck. “ _Princess_.”

 

Karolina and Nico both looked up to see the tall woman with jet-black hair and chalk-white skin emerge from the dissipating smoke, walking toward them. Her clothing was torn and burnt in several places, but she seemed unharmed herself.

 

“My name's Nekra,” she said. “Roxxon sent me out here to make sure things went smoothly.” the woman said, stopping at the forklift lying on its side, now leaking fluids onto the deck plate. “Or, in case they don't, to kill anyone stupid enough to fuck with them.” She knelt down, grasping the forklift and easily lifting it as she stood again.

 

“Shit,” Karolina swore. She grabbed Nico and shot forward into flight as the alabaster woman hurled the forklift at them again. Karolina rolled onto her back, clutching Nico to her chest as they streaked out of the path of the thrown vehicle. The forklift hit the outer wall, designed to withstand hurricanes, hard enough to partially drive through the thick steel wall and embed itself in the structure.

 

“What's the matter, lightstick?” shouted the tall woman, laughing. “Not want to play with the big girls?!”

 

—O—

 

Tandy reached the door to the bridge, only to find that it was locked. A quick slash of a light dagger through the metal opened the door, but that presented a different problem.

 

The bridge was completely empty.

 

The instruments were on, displays were still active, but no one was present.

 

Running footfalls outside the bridge drew her attention, and she ran out the door to see a man in a life vest running away.

 

She stopped and threw two daggers, both of them hitting the man in his right leg, sending him tumbling and sliding on the wet metal walkway. He tried to get up, but she was already on top of him, her foot shoving him back down.

 

“What are you doing?!” she snapped at him, dropping to her knee in the small of his back, making him cry out in pain.

 

“Aban... doning... the ship,” he gasped out between breaths. “Before it... hits the... oil platform.”

 

“What are you talking about?!” she said, leaning forward. She created another light dagger and drove it down into the metal beside his face, its gleaming white light shining on his cheek and temple.

 

“Skipper set... collision course,” he gasped. “For that Centgo platform. The one that's still pumping.”

 

Tandy looked up and toward the forward end of the boat. They were now turning away from the Roxxon platform, the one with a fire burning on one of the outer sections. Instead they were moving toward a different offshore platform, one that was fully lit and active despite the rain.

 

She leaned forward, until her mouth was nearly in the man's ear. “You're going to stop the ship,” she hissed at the man.

 

“C-Can't,” he sputtered. “Only Skip and the Ex-Oh have access, and they've both gone to the lifeboats. Th-they set the course and locked the controls, to give you something else to worry about instead of us.”

 

Tandy pushed up from the prone man, back to a standing position before she loudly screamed, _“FUCK!”_

 

—O—

 

Karolina flew around the tall woman, dropping Nico off before continuing to circle around Nekra. She unleashed a blast of colored light directly at the bone-white woman, striking her in the chest but not budging her in the least.

 

Nico's fingers shifted as her hands came up in front of her; glowing purple chains shot out of the air just in front of her hands, continuing to appear as they wrapped around Nekra completely, from shoulders to ankles. The tall woman struggled to maintain her balance for a moment before falling over with a crash.

 

Nico blew out a breath, standing back up as the angry woman thrashed and wiggled in the chains, cursing and spitting. “Damn, she's strong,” Nico said as Karolina touched down again.

 

“ _You!”_ Nekra screamed and hissed, writhing about on the metal deck. “You! Little! BITCH!” she shrieked as she snapped the glowing chains, which immediately effervesced into sprays of purple sparks.

 

“Fuck!” Nico swore, clutching her head as a bolt of pain from the backlash erupted in her right temple.

 

Karolina started to kneel to check Nico, but she caught herself, instead turning as she stepped between Nico's body and Nekra, who was on them in a flash. Karolina had just enough time to get her energy field back up before Nekra's punch hit her in the chest with enough force to shatter a car, sending Karolina hurtling backwards off the platform and into the blowing rain and night.

 

Nico stood, shaking off the pain in her head and her heart as Nekra whirled to face her, her face contorted with rage.

 

“The madder I get, the stronger I get!” the pallid woman screamed. “And you little twats have _really pissed me off!”_

 

Nico took in the glare on the furious woman's face, the barely-restrained anger in her bone-white visage. “Then I guess what's about to come next isn't going to help your self-image,” she said, punctuating her sentence with a smile.

 

Nekra swung viciously at Nico's head, the force of the blow enough to punch a hole in a tank. But Nico easily stepped back, just out of reach.

 

Nekra lunged forward, reaching for Nico, only for the smaller woman to step to the side, grasping Nekra's stone-hard forearm and using the woman's own momentum to send her sprawling forward, onto her chin.

 

Nekra slammed her bare hand on the metal, denting the two-inch-thick steel as she clambered to her feet and launched herself forward, trying to tackle Nico. The smaller witch instead dove up and forward, letting Nekra pass beneath her. While diving, the taller woman grasped at Nico's feet only for Nico to lift them up and out of the way, her body tilting to land in a handstand before continuing over, landing on her feet as Nekra slammed into a half-wall concealing a crane's engine.

 

The white-skinned woman lashed out in sheer rage, smashing through the steel casing and tearing pieces of metal out of the crane's works. She spun and threw a large gear, half as large as herself, at Nico, only for the witch to dive and roll to the side, coming up with her hands in position to form a purple shield before the second piece of machinery could reach her.

 

Nico's shield held against the impact, but it sent jolts of burning, stinging pain up her arms, so before Nekra could charge her again, Nico smiled and moved her hands into a different position. Then she vanished.

 

“Where the fuck are you?!” snarled Nekra, looking around, to her left, then her right.

 

“Right here,” Nico said, appearing with her back against the bulkhead wall protecting the interior complex of the platform.

 

Nekra started to lunge forward, then she stopped.

 

“What's the matter?” Nico said. “Scared of a little bitch?”

 

A wary expression crossed Nekra's face. She quickly reached out to the side and tore a sheet of metal off a wall; in a blink, she threw it forward. It passed through the illusion of Nico and hit the steel wall, one corner penetrating the bulkhead.

 

“You're not as smart as you think!” Nekra shouted, starting to look around until Nico materialized, a few meters to the side.

 

“Smart enough to keep you looking in this direction,” Nico said, right before she bolted to her right, grabbing the Staff of One and not slowing down until she jumped off the edge of the platform.

 

Nekra didn't have enough time to turn around before Karolina hit her directly in the center of her back at just over half the speed of sound, triggering an explosion of plasma at the moment of impact for good measure. The dual impact blew Nekra completely through the steel bulkhead and through two more steel walls inside the habitat, leaving a hole in the outer habitat wall over three meters in diameter.

 

Nico floated up behind Karolina, lightly touching down behind her wife. Karolina's chest was heaving visibly as she stood, carefully testing her right hand.

 

“I might have broken my wrist on that one,” the glowing blonde said.

 

“That was a good one,” Nico said, her voice proud. “Felt the shockwave while I was falling.”

 

“Which bird did you use this time?” Karolina asked; she sighed when she saw debris start to shift deep inside the habitat.

 

Nico leaned over to get a better look through the hole torn in the bulkhead. “Meadowlark. Is that bitch getting back up?”

 

Karolina nodded. “Looks like it. She's as tough as she is strong. I'll give her that.”

 

A soft pop and a rush of wind made both of them look to their right. Karolina projected an energy field over the hole in the habitat wall as Nekra continued to fight her way free from the debris.

 

“Hey,” Tandy said, Tyrone's cloak sliding off her shoulder from where it had been covering her. “We have a problem with the ship.”

 

“Well, we have a problem with a crazy white woman who's strong as fuck,” Nico replied, unfazed.

 

“I specialize in crazy white women,” said Tandy, looking at Nico. “You think you can keep that cargo ship from hitting the platform that's still pumping oil?”

 

“That sounds really bad,” Karolina said.

 

“Uh, yeah,” Nico agreed. “They're ramming it?”

 

“Assholes set its course and locked it to keep us busy while they take off. Already tried smashing the controls. Didn't help. You think you can stop it?”

 

Nico looked back at Tandy. She took in a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, then blew it back out. “Yeah, sure, why not?”

 

The short-haired blonde grinned, stepping forward and lifting up her open hand, palm out. “Tag?”

 

Nico grinned, her left hand meeting Tandy's in a soft high-five. “Tag,” she said, moving to stand beside Tyrone before she turned back to Karolina. “I'll be back soon as I can, babe.”

 

“Okay,” Karolina said. She blew Nico a kiss with her free hand. “Love you.”

 

“Love you too.”

 

—O—

 

The teleportation was interesting. Nico felt a refreshing chill as she passed through utter darkness, but it didn't feel uncomfortable in the least. As soon as they reappeared, Nico saw an offshore platform looming far too close for comfort.

 

“Damn, that's not good,” she said, looking around. She and Tyrone were standing on top of the bridge at the rear of the _Roxxon Acapulco_ , facing forward. “How fast are we going?”

 

“Too fast,” replied Tyrone.

 

“Very scientific,” Nico muttered, shaking her arms out. “Alright, let's do this.” She raised the Staff of One and felt its power flow up her arm, into her chest and then through her whole body. _“Turn the Roxxon Acapulco around!”_

 

The Staff's headpiece flared a brilliant white-yellow as its magic spread across the whole vessel, giving it a soft glow in the rain. Nico put her will into turning the cargo ship to the right, but nothing happened. She concentrated, exerting her will with maximum effort, and still nothing happened.

 

“Fuck!” she swore into the rain, maintaining the spell despite the strain. “The ship's too goddamn big!” She redoubled her efforts, straining so hard that her ears started to ring and she thought she might pee on herself, but the vessel only turned a tiny amount to Nico's right. “Turn, you piece of shit!” she screamed, putting everything she had into the effort.

 

—O—

 

A powerful boom sent a shockwave up Karolina's left arm as Nekra punched her light field, making the glowing blonde stumble.

 

“Damn, she's getting stronger,” Karolina said, right before a second punch broke the light field and sent a flash of pain into Karolina's left wrist and forearm as the light field vanished.

 

“Oh wow, she really is a crazy white bitch, isn't she?” Tandy said, her mouth slightly open at the sight of Nekra stepping out of the irregular hole in the bulkhead, clothes tattered enough to expose a black sports bra and running shorts.

 

“Told you,” Karolina said, unleashing another blast of purple and yellow light.

 

“I'm going to rip your fucking head off, lightstick!” Nekra screamed, striding forward against Karolina's stream of light.

 

Tandy manifested three light daggers in quick succession, throwing them rapidly, one after the other, with the knifes sticking into Nekra's left arm and left thigh.

 

“ _Another_ little bitch!” the villain shrieked. “I'll rip your fucking head off, too!”

 

“Charmer,” Tandy said, creating two longer daggers, one in each hand as Nekra charged them, powering through Karolina's ongoing blast of energy like running upstream.

 

Tandy ducked the first swipe at her head, a hooking left that left Nekra open for Tandy to slash both daggers across her side, leaving thin crimson trails along the incisions. She rolled forward with the slashes, spinning her body backward into another roll before coming up with both knives pointing forward. Nekra was already charging her, but when Karolina hit the tall woman in the back with another blast of light, the force sent Nekra stumbling forward, finally collapsing awkwardly and skidding on the rain-slicked metal deck.

 

Tandy jumped over Nekra's grasping arms, turning and running back to sink both her daggers into the bone-white woman's sides, right over the kidneys. However, the daggers only penetrated slightly, enough to draw blood and make the livid woman scream in pain, but not enough to keep her from shoving herself upward again.

 

Tandy took several steps back, keeping her distance. “What's this bitch's deal, anyway?” she asked Karolina.

 

“She said her name's Nekra, and she gets stronger with negative emotions, like anger, hate, spite. You know, high school emo stuff.”

 

“Ah,” Tandy said, then she had a thought. “OH.” She turned back to Karolina. “Hey, I've got an idea!”

 

Karolina grabbed Tandy by the waist and flew to the side, just out of the way of a steel door Nekra had thrown at them. “Whatever it is, go for it!” the glowing woman said, catching Nekra mid-leap with an energy blast; the impact negated the alabaster woman's momentum, sending her falling to the deck with a loud thud.

 

“KILL YOU!” Nekra screamed, the veins in her neck bulging with rage as she stood. “FUCKING TEAR YOU APART!!”

 

She started running toward Karolina, never seeing Tandy's legs shoot forward into her path, tripping the taller woman and sending her crashing onto her chin again. Before the villain could get up, Tandy was on the woman's back, open hands glowing with white light as she pressed them to Nekra's head.

 

—O—

 

“I CAN'T TURN IT FAST ENOUGH!” Nico yelled, head pounding and heart thrumming so fast that she could feel it skipping beats, making her light-headed. She dropped to her knees, releasing the spell before she blacked out.

 

“It's got too much momentum, too much mass,” Nico said, trying to catch her breath. “ _And_ it's fucking fighting me, trying to stay on course. Nothing's stopping it.” She looked up, blinking water from her eyelashes as she knelt on the metal surface.

 

“Nothing's stopping it,” she repeated through the rain, her voice lower as an idea flashed through her throbbing head. It was crazy, but when had _that_ ever stopped her? She laughed, grinning as the storm seemed to intensify, the rain pelting harder and wind swirling her sleeves.

 

“Are you okay?” asked Tyrone, genuinely concerned.

 

“No,” Nico said as she got to her feet. “I'm totally fucking insane. And I know what I have to do.”

 

She raised the Staff again. _“Roxxon Acapulco, FULL SPEED AHEAD!”_ she yelled into the storm.

 

—O—

 

Tandy found herself in the desert, with the gloom of a starless night all around her. She felt the sand shift beneath her feet, walking with purpose as she climbed a low dune.

 

Her feet slid briefly as she crested the dune's top, revealing a pool of light on the ground down below. Incongruously, there was a wooden floor with a rocking chair, a crib, a playpen, some toys scattered on the ground, with a single wall on the other side of the tableau. An open window in the wall was bounded by two light yellow curtains, blowing in the warm desert breeze.

 

Tandy made her way down the sand dune, trying not to slip as her feet shifted and slid during her descent. She finally touched down on the baked earth, walking quickly on the solid ground until her shoes softly fell on the hardwood floor of the semi-room.

 

There was no denying that it was Nekra in the rocking chair, not with her chalky skin and jet hair and eyebrows, but the expression on her face was happy and content as she nursed the baby in her arms. The baby was wearing a white onesie, skin pale but not entirely white, nearly asleep while continuing to nurse.

 

“You're a mother?” Tandy asked, her voice low, trying not to disturb the baby.

 

Nekra looked up at the small blonde, and the smile on her face was friendly, not sneering. “Yeah,” she replied. “I am. I lost custody of my little girl because I went to prison.”

 

“I can see why you're mad all the time, then,” Tandy said, bending over to look closely at the baby, who seemed entirely at peace.

 

Nekra sighed, pausing her rocking. “It's a shitty choice,” she said in a soft voice. “To be nearly a god at the cost of being angry all the time, or to be happy but give up all my gifts.”

 

She looked down at the baby in her arms and pressed a kiss to the child's head, relishing the smell of clean skin and baby powder. “But if I had another chance at that decision,” she said, as a tear escaped from her right eye, “I'd choose this.”

 

Light flared around them, and the desert went away.

 

—O—

 

Tandy scrambled to her feet as Nekra pushed her off of her back. The alabaster woman turned around to face the short-haired blonde; she looked like she was crying, though it might have been the rain on her face, as she wailed, “What did you _do to me?!”_

 

Nekra threw a punch at Tandy, but the smaller woman easily caught and blocked it this time. Nekra was no stronger than Tandy was now.

 

A brilliant glow flashed in Tandy's peripheral vision as Karolina swooped in, her fist connecting with Nekra's head with a solid _smack_ ; the bone-white woman instantly collapsed to the deck in an unconscious heap.

 

“Wow,” Karolina said, staring at the now incapacitated Nekra before turning to look at Tandy. “What _did_ you do?”

 

“You said that negative emotions made her stronger and tougher. So I gave her hope.”

 

The two blondes looked at the beaten woman for a long moment.

 

Tandy sighed. “I'm not sure whether to feel good about what I did or not. Kind of a weird feeling.”

 

Karolina looked over at the shorter blonde and sighed. “You should meet our parents sometime.”

 

—O—

 

Tyrone looked dumbfounded as the ship quickly closed on the brightly lit offshore platform, its speed continuing to increase. Alarm bells could be heard across the churning waves, and the blare of a collision horn had been a constant for several minutes.

 

“Why are you doing this?!” he yelled at Nico. She was still holding the spell, the Staff's headpiece sizzling with crackling yellow-white electricity inside it as the _Acapulco_ continued to accelerate.

 

Nico turned to look at him. The aura faded, and she lowered the Staff. “Because I need this ship to be going as fast as possible for this to work!” she shouted back.

 

She turned to face forward again. Using the Staff like a giant pencil, she traced a sigil into the air, the curves and lines glowing purple as Nico paused.

 

She took a deep breath. Her head was still pounding, her chest fucking _hurt_ from her ongoing rapid heart rate, she was worried about Karolina, and she had to save all the people on the platform they were about to hit. She took her pain, her worry, her frustration and fed all that into the Staff, letting the power build for several seconds as she watched the platform in their path grow closer.

 

She reached forward with her free left hand, sticking it through the sigil and moving her fingers into the position to open a portal, then she shoved the Staff through the sigil as well.

 

“ _Portal big enough to sail a cargo ship through!”_ she yelled into the storm, then she started pulling her left hand and the Staff to each side, in opposite directions.

 

As Tyrone watched, enormous purple runes appeared in a circular pattern in the air between the Acapulco and the offshore platform, rapidly widening as the circle stretched outward, becoming larger and larger, then larger still.

 

The air inside the enormous mystic circle shimmered, revealing a different view of another offshore platform, this one nearly dark, with only a few lights burning.

 

—O—

 

“Thank you,” Karolina said, smiling at Tandy. “We really appreciate you and Cloak helping with this.”

 

“Oh, it's our pleasure. I like hurting assholes who think it's acceptable to trade in sex slavery. Taking several of them out's a good night in my book. Shutting down drug labs is just icing on the cake.”

 

“Hey, do you mind if I go check on Nico? I can give you a lift back to the ship at the same time.”

 

A purple glow appeared in the air near the platform; as Tandy watched, multiple symbols appeared in a semi-circle, well above the waterline.

 

“What the hell is that?” she said.

 

Karolina turned and looked. “Looks like some of Nico's magic sigils. Purple's the usual color for most of her magic now. Those are huge, though. And that pattern almost looks like...”

 

“What do you think—”

 

As soon as the air inside the semicircle began to shimmer, Karolina's mind recognized that it did indeed look like one of Nico's portals. The biggest fucking portal she had even seen.

 

“Shit!” Karolina swore. She picked up Nekra, threw the unconscious woman over her right shoulder, then grabbed Dagger's hands. “Sorry about this!” she said.

 

“What are you—”

 

Karolina launched upward, pulling Dagger with her as they climbed high above the offshore platform. She turned and released Dagger's hands as she slowed enough for the other blonde to continuing flying upward briefly, then Karolina grabbed her again by putting an arm around Tandy's waist.

 

“Hopefully this is more comfortable,” she said to Tandy, who looked more than a bit confused as they hovered far above the platform, their viewing angle turning the semi-circle of runes into nearly a flat plane below them. “I think Nico is dealing with both of our problems at once.” She nodded with her head in the direction below them as the bow of the _Roxxon Acapulco_ emerged from the enormous portal, heading directly at the platform they were just on.

 

“Well, damn,” Tandy swore softly as more of the cargo ship came through, pressing forward with surprising speed.

 

“That's my woman,” Karolina said proudly.

 

—O—

 

Nico stood with her arms stretched out to both sides, holding the portal open wide despite the pain in her arms and chest. She fed her suffering back through the Staff, channeling the increased power into holding the massive portal open until the ship was through. She was fairly sure that she had opened the other side far enough away from the platform to let the whole ship make it through before the collision, but she was going to be a bit nervous about that until it was done.

 

“I didn't know you could make a gate that big,” Tyrone said, standing beside Nico.

 

“That's two of us,” Nico said through gritted teeth.

 

“Over halfway through. Making good speed.”

 

“Don't kiss my ass... until we're... all the way through.”

 

Ty found himself grinning in the cover of his cloak's hood. “You'd either really get along with Tandy or you'd kill each other.”

 

Nico groaned briefly. “Bet on... the killing...” she hissed.

 

Ty nodded, still smiling. “Yeah, probably,” he agreed.

 

—O—

 

The _Roxxon Acapulco_ completed its path through the portal only seconds before it impacted the offshore platform. As soon as the bridge emerged at its new location, the GPS recognized the change in position and tried to adjust its course back to the other platform, but the ship was too massive and moving too quickly for the course correction to have any effect.

 

Karolina came swooping down to the top of the bridge, Tandy held at her side and Nekra still draped over her shoulder as she approached Tyrone, who didn't seem to be wet at all, and Nico, who was soaked and looked completely drained as she released the spell holding the portal open.

 

“Trade?” the glowing blonde said, smiling as she touched down, releasing Tandy before setting the limp Nekra down on the deck beside them, then immediately moving to get Nico. “My poor sweet princess,” Karolina said, getting a grumpy look from her wife made all the more effective by the sheer exhaustion evident on Nico's face and in her eyes.

 

“See you on the shore,” Tyrone said as Tandy knelt, taking Nekra's hand as Ty stood beside them, his leg pressing against Tandy's side before all three of them vanished in a puff of black smoke.

 

Karolina scooped Nico up without another word, launching into flight as the dark-haired woman essentially collapsed in her arms. Karolina gently took the Staff from Nico's loose grip; the artifact shrunk to its smaller size, allowing Karolina to tuck it into her right rear pocket.

 

A horrific groaning and squealing came from below them, following by snapping, crunching and grinding noises as the cargo ship plowed into the offshore platform, ripping through the massive pylons and shredding the hull of the ship itself.

 

Karolina hovered for a moment, considering the destruction below them.

 

“Hey hon,” she said, kissing Nico's wet cheek. “Nico.”

 

“Yeah,” mumbled the witch.

 

“You did great keeping the ship from hitting the oil rig, but this crash is still going to dump a lot of nasty stuff into the Gulf. Diesel fuel, hydraulics, electronic components, all that.”

 

“I'm so tired,” Nico moaned. “And everything hurts.”

 

“Just do this one other thing, please? For me?”

 

Nico opened her eyes and looked at Karolina's glowing face. The blonde's eyes were still visibly blue through the pink and purple and yellow, and she smiled brightly at Nico.

 

She couldn't deny her wife this request. It didn't matter how tired or sore Nico was. The environment was something Karolina cared deeply about, and judging from the shrieking and crashing of metal below them, the environment was about to get a few hard kicks to the groin.

 

“Sounds like two train wrecks fucking down there,” Nico mumbled.

 

“Yeah. It's impressive to watch. And terrifying.”

 

“Where's the Staff?”

 

Karolina pulled the artifact out of her rear pocket and placed it in Nico's left hand, where it immediately enlarged to its full length, its headpiece once more crackling with white-yellow electricity.

 

“ _Eco-friendly maritime disaster!”_ Nico called out, putting as much effort as she could into her weary voice as she felt the Staff reach out to her, tasting her pain and exhaustion before shimmering, then glowing brightly.

 

Karolina watched as the water around the slow-motion destruction below them began to glow a bright green-yellow, growing to encompass the half of the Acapulco that hadn't been peeled open like a tin can and what still stood of the platform.

 

Nico's arm continued to hold the Staff slightly raised, but when it started to sag, Karolina reached out and added her own hand to Nico's, helping her wife hold the Staff until the glow finally faded back into darkness once more, well over a minute later.

 

“Thank you,” Karolina said, kissing the now-unconscious Nico on her forehead. She then lifted the Staff to her lips and kissed its ebony handle as well. “And thank you,” she added, smiling at the artifact.

 

She turned in a wide arc, making her way back to the port where the others waited, her wife in one arm and the Staff in her other hand.

 

—O—

 

“Eighteen girls and women, three boys in their teens,” Brigid said when Tyrone and Tandy appeared in the middle of the makeshift camp, everyone huddling under tarps that flapped and fluttered in the wind but were holding so far. The rain blew, but heaters had been set up, and dry towels, dry clothes and hot tea and coffee were helping warm the shaken victims of the slavers.

 

“Twenty-one lives we helped tonight,” Tandy said. “But it's only a start.”

 

“For those twenty-one, it's the world. It's the rest of their lives.” Brigid smiled, and it felt genuine, more of the old Brigid and less Mayhem. Then the smile hardened. “And hopefully you killed enough of those bastards smuggling these people that their employers start to get the point.”

 

“Some of them got away,” Tyrone said. “We had to choose between preventing the next _BP Horizon_ or capturing the rest of the crew.”

 

“I'll call the Coast Guard,” Brigid said. “We're not letting those pricks get away.”

 

“Even if they do,” said Tandy, “they saw enough to tell people to stay out of New Orleans, or we'll be waiting for them.”

 

A pink glow became visible at the camp, illuminating the wet docks around the shelter of the tents. Brigid turned in time to see the glowing woman from before land, holding the other, smaller woman in her arms. The glowing blonde tucked something into her rear pocket, then she went back to holding the other woman, who looked to be out cold, with both arms before her glow vanished, leaving a wet, tall blonde holding her wife.

 

“Thank you both,” Karolina said, carrying Nico as she stepped under the cover of the tarps, moving to stand with Tandy, Tyrone and Brigid. “Some of the platform crew got out. I saw two of the lifeboats heading for shore on the way in.”

 

“What direction?” asked Brigid.

 

“Um,” Karolina turned, not wanting to put Nico down on the dirty surface of the dock. “That way,” she said, facing out to sea and nodding.

 

“Thanks,” Brigid said, turning and walking briskly to a man wearing a military uniform.

 

Karolina watched the policewoman walk away, then she turned back to Tyrone and Tandy. “Thank you both again,” she said. “Seriously.”

 

Tyrone eyed the way Karolina was holding Nico in front of her without seeming to exert herself. “You're welcome,” he said. “And we owe you and your lady some thanks as well. Another oil spill would have been a disaster.”

 

“Although now it's just a few thousand gallons of diesel fuel from the cargo ship,” Tandy said. “And hundreds of cargo containers of God knows what.”

 

“Oh, Nico took care of that already,” Karolina said cheerily.

 

“What did she do?” asked Ty.

 

Karolina went to shrug her shoulders but instead just lifted Nico slightly. “Not sure exactly what the Staff did, but she held the spell for a long time, and it definitely did something around the ship and the platform. Let us know when you find out. I'd like to know. Maybe she could do it at toxic waste sites or something.”

 

“Nice,” said Tyrone. “You, uh, need a place for her to crash for a bit? So she can get you back home?”

 

“Oh,” Karolina said. “No, I've got it, but thanks.” She flared into pastel colors again, holding Nico with one arm as she grasped her necklace with her free hand. She thought of opening a portal back home and whispered, “I love my princess.” The activation phrase triggered a portal back to the Hostel that opened in front of the blonde.

 

“Hey, Kay, what's up?” said Molly, running over to the portal.

 

“Just got a wiped-out Nico in my arms,” Karolina said, turning her light back off. “Been raining here, so I need to get her home and warmed up in the shower, then I'll take the little squirt off your hands.”

 

“Oh!” Molly said, looking entirely too excited. “I put a baby carrier on Old Lace!”

 

“Oh, God, Molly,” Karolina sighed. “Please tell me you did not put our child on a dinosaur.”

 

“She's so adorable!” Molly said. “Hang on, let me get her! Lace is so proud, and Persy loves it!”

 

Karolina turned to look at Tandy and Ty once more. “Stay in touch, okay?” she asked. “Come see us again when you get tired of the rain here.”

 

“Sounds good,” Tandy said, smiling.

 

“Good to see you two again, and congratulations on the baby,” Tyrone said. “I would shake your hand, but...”

 

Karolina grinned. “Bye!” Then she stepped through the portal, which closed behind her like it was never there.

 

“I know we've seen some crazy shit...” Tyrone began, looking at Tandy.

 

“They've got us beat,” finished the blonde. “Hands down. The magic baby did that by itself.”

 

The taller man shook his head. “I can't really wrap my head around trying to take care of a baby right now.”

 

“Me neither,” said Tandy, scuffing the toe of her semi-white shoe against the wet asphalt of the port. “She was cute, though. Pretty eyes.”

 

Tyrone looked at his best friend. “You think you might have kids one day?” he asked

 

“I don't know,” replied the blonde. “If I do, I don't plan on it for a long time. But maybe one day, if I find the right guy...”

 

“Yeah?”

 

The short-haired blonde smiled up at her friend. “Yeah.”

 

Tyrone nodded, turning to look at the medics, social workers and translators working with the teens and women they had rescued tonight. He looked down at Tandy, resisting the urge to give her a hug.

 

As if she read his mind, the petite blonde stepped against the taller man, putting her arm around him. “We did good tonight, didn't we?” she asked softly.

 

Tyrone nodded as he returned the gesture, hugging his partner. “Yeah. We did.”

 

“The odds of me actually finding a good man, though, _are_ kind of shit.”

 

Tyrone looked down at the blonde, an incredulous look on his face.

 

“Just saying!” she added, trying not to laugh at his expression.

 

“You're playing me, aren't you?”

 

“ _Me?!_ NO! I'd never do that to you!”

 

“Yeah, right.”

 

“Oh, we need to get that one guy... out of you. I told him we'd let him go if he told us where the girls were.”

 

“We're letting him go?” asked Tyrone, surprised.

 

“Yeah. To jail. He's been in there long enough that he's going to confess once we hand him over.”

 

Ty smiled. “Now _that's_ the Tandy Bowen I know,” he said quietly.

 

—O—

 

“Oh my God, this food is good,” Karolina said around a mouthful of crepes and lemon butter.

 

Nico nodded. Her plate had crab cakes, scrambled eggs and Tabasco sauce, and it was entirely delicious. “Good call on swinging back by New Orleans for breakfast, Kar.”

 

Karolina nodded, watching the morning sun slowly climb above the horizon and the sparkling waters of the Gulf of Mexico. They were seated at an outside table at a restaurant called The Blue Crab, enjoying a peaceful breakfast with a fantastic view of a marina and the Gulf stretching out beyond the boats and piers. Persephone was asleep in her carseat, securely attached to their stroller parked next to the table. “We need to go to more Wizard offices,” the blonde said. “Find some more places like this.”

 

“No shit,” Nico said, taking the last bite of one of her crab cakes. “I'm glad you thought of that spell while I was in the process of passing out last night. I wouldn't want to cause any more damage to this place. It's suffered enough over the years.”

 

“Well, _you_ thought of the spell.”

 

“Yeah, but you were the one who made sure we did something about not fucking up the Gulf more than it already is.”

 

Karolina'a gaze drifted up over Nico's left shoulder. “Excuse me,” she said, turning to a nearby server, a girl who looked as young as they were. “Could you please turn up the volume on that TV?”

 

Nico turned and looked over her shoulder as the brunette server pressed the volume button, holding it until the news broadcast was audible.

 

“ _...And preliminary testing shows no increased evidence of petrochemicals, pollutants, heavy metals or other toxins from the terrible wreck of the_ Roxxon Acapulco _cargo ship, which crashed into a decommissioned Roxxon offshore platform last night._

 

“ _Environmental scientists caution that there is still rigorous testing to be done, but the local office of the Environmental Protection Agency and the nonprofit Friends of the Gulf organization both say that despite the sinking of the cargo ship and the destruction of the offshore platform, the waters in that region of the Gulf are actually the cleanest they've been since 1964, when regular testing began.”_

 

The images changed from the news anchor to underwater photographs of wreckage, heavily encrusted in coral and teeming with fish, anemones, plants and other undersea life.

 

“ _Oceanographers are similarly astounded at how the wreckage appears to have become encrusted overnight with a dense network of living coral, teeming with a variety of life that's normally found only in mature coral growths that are over a century old._

 

“ _We'll have more reports from the Gulf throughout the day, only here on New Orleans' own Chan—”_

 

Karolina leaned across the table and grabbed Nico's head with both hands, pulling her wife in for a prolonged kiss. The two of them held the kiss for several seconds, and both of them were making soft noises of contentment as their lips parted.

 

“You, Nico Dean, are the most wonderful, amazing person I have ever met,” Karolina said, her blue eyes brilliant and shining with unshed tears of joy. “Thank you.”

 

“I still think you're a lot more amazing than I am,” Nico said. “I mean, I might have prevented an ecological disaster, but you carried and gave birth to our daughter. That's _really_ amazing.”

 

Karolina took Nico's hand, running her fingers over her wife's knuckles. “Have you, uh, thought about any more? Kids?”

 

Nico looked over at Persephone, her little face serious in sleep. “Actually, I have,” she said quietly.

 

“Yeah?” said Karolina, a look of wonder on her face.

 

“I want more,” Nico said. “Not right now. Not in the next year. I want Persy to have a chance to grow and get her own little personality. But I want more children with you, Karolina. I'm absolutely sure of it.”

 

Karolina lifted Nico's hand to her lips and kissed it, tears sliding down to meet Nico's skin. “I want that too,” she whispered.

 

“I know that you heal faster than me...” Nico said.

 

“And apparently I have a good 'birthing pelvis', according to Dr. Lindell.”

 

Nico grinned. “AND you have a good birthing pelvis. But I want to carry one of our girls. I want to feel a part of you growing inside me, to bring that life into the world.”

 

“And throw your guts up for a month or two.”

 

“That too.”

 

“I want you to get to experience that, too, Nico,” Karolina said. “But we'll have to be careful.”

 

“I know.”

 

“You're petite, sweetheart.”

 

“I prefer 'fun-sized'.”

 

“And if it's a big baby, they might have to deliver her by C-section.”

 

“That's fine. I'm willing to take the risks, because you're worth it. Our family is worth it.”

 

Nico took Karolina's free hand, mirroring their other side. “You've already given me the three most incredible experiences of my life, Karolina Dean. The first time you kissed me. The first time we made love. And the first time we made a baby.”

 

Karolina squeezed both of Nico's hands, unable to speak due to the emotion surging in her heart.

 

“I want to give this to you. To have your baby for you, like you did for me. To share that experience, without you having to deal with the puking and the swelling and the aching and the clothes not fitting.”

 

Karolina nodded, dislodging more tears that fell onto the off-white tablecloth. “Okay,” she said. “On one condition.”

 

Nico smiled, her heart soaring. “You name it.”

 

“I get another one too.”

 

Nico's right eyebrow rose slightly. “Three?”

 

Karolina nodded eagerly.

 

“We'd be outnumbered then.”

 

Karolina nodded again.

 

“Are you trying to kill me, Kar?”

 

“Nico, honey, if we wait for Gert and Chase to give our daughters playmates, we'll have gray hair. We're gonna have to do this ourselves.”

 

Nico's smile was brilliant. “Okay.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three long chapters in a row. Oof. 
> 
> There's going to be a bit of a time jump before and during the next chapter, because we still have a lot of years to cover and only three chapters left to do it. Expect another two weeks or so for the next update, and thanks for reading!


	8. Developmental Milestones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is presented a bit differently than the others, for reasons which will become obvious. As such, some sections are in present tense, other in past tense, depending on the feel of each segment. Just letting you know.
> 
> If I missed any typos in this chapter, I promise I'll clean them up over the next twenty-four hours.

_Well I stood stone-like at midnight, suspended in my masquerade_

_I combed my hair until it was just right and commanded the night brigade_

_I was open to pain and crossed by the rain, and I walked with a crooked crutch_

_I strode all alone through a fallout zone and came out with my soul untouched_

_I hid in the cloud and ran from the crowd_

_When they said sit down, I stood up_

_Oh, growing up_

 

\--Bruce Springsteen, “Growing Up”

 

 

—O—

—O—

 

 

Persephone Dean is seven months and ten days old when she takes her first step.

 

“Walk to Mommy!” Nico says, holding the growing baby upright, her chubby bowed legs wobbling like mad as the baby tries to hold her balance.

 

Persephone's eyes are fixed squarely on her other mother, seated on the quilt spread out over the floor in the Hostel's main room. Nico and Karolina are seated just about a meter apart, both of them sitting lotus-style, encouraging their daughter, whose blonde hair is getting longer and brown eyes getting darker.

 

Persy is making little happy noises, coos and laughs, and when Nico carefully releases her grip on the baby's arms, the fact that the wobbly Persy doesn't topple over right away is a good sign.

 

Then Persephone takes a step. Then another, then a third, nearly stumbling in her haste to reach her taller mommy with the pretty gold hair, who grabs Persy by the shoulders, then picks her up and clutches her to her chest. Nico is there not a second later, wrapping her arms around both her wife and their daughter.

 

“She did it!” Karolina gasps out, her heart racing.

 

“You walked!” Nico said, fighting back tears of happiness. “Holy shit, Persy! You _walked!_ ”

 

Seconds later, Nico is back in her previous position, wiping her eyes as Karolina carefully points Persephone back to her second mommy, the shorter one with the pretty dark hair, and when Karolina gently relaxes her grip, Persephone takes four shaky, unsteady steps back to Nico, laughing as her other mommy cheers and swoops the baby up into her arms right before Karolina nearly tackles both of them in celebration.

 

—O—

 

Persephone Dean is ten months and five days old when she says her first word.

 

She's in the bathtub with her two mommies, getting her long, silky cornflower hair washed when it happens. Nico is holding Persy, steadying the growing child's back and neck while Karolina gently washes Persy's hair. Bath time is one of Persy's favorite events, and she loves to splash and squeal. Wet hair is always fun to grab and yank, and when her mommies have no clothes on, that makes her access to her gold-haired mommy's breasts even easier.

 

It's while Karolina is rinsing the shampoo out of Persy's hair that the little girl gets tickled at the faces her mama is making, and after a particularly funny face, Persy laughs loudly and smacks her hands and her feet against the surface of the water, splashing water and shampoo into her mama's left eye.

 

“Ow,” Nico says as she frees one of her hands to rub her stinging eye. “ _Fuck_ , Persy,” she says quietly. “Even if it is baby shampoo, it still burns.”

 

Karolina's mouth is open to reply when, very audibly, a soft voice from between them awkwardly burbles, “Fuk.”

 

“Oh my god,” Karolina gasps, her eyes snapping to Nico. “She said her first word!”

 

Nico is unable to speak. She's faced down elder gods and angry supervillains and giant rampaging monsters, but she has no words for this.

 

“She said her first word!” Karolina repeated, mouth open with both shock and delight. She looked down at Persephone, who laughed at her gold-haired mommy's funny face.

 

“Fuk,” the baby repeated, her voice impossibly soft as it tests itself around the syllable.

 

“Okay, I take responsibility for this one,” Nico finally says, when she locates her voice.

 

Karolina grins, that toothy grin that is _beyond_ adorable to Nico, the one that only comes out in moments of complete and utter delight for the expressive blonde. “I _told_ you her first word was going to be 'fuck' if you weren't careful!” Karolina said, her blue eyes shining with glee as she looked at her wife, across a bathtub full of soapy bubbles and warm bathwater.

 

Nico smiled as she lifted their baby up and rubbed noses with Persephone, getting a giggle from the child. “You really are my child, aren't you, you little sassy thing?”

 

“Oh, there's no doubt,” replied Karolina, sliding closer and sloshing the water in the tub around. There wasn't _that_ much room for both her and Nico in it, but they had spent two years learning how to make it work, and they were pretty smooth with sharing a bath at this point. As such, only a slight amount of water escaped the rim of the large tub, landing on the dark brown towel they had laid out before getting in.

 

Karolina stared into Nico's eyes as the black-haired woman settled back against the end of the tub, Persephone on her chest between her breasts, the baby's head tucked under Nico's chin. The blonde carefully positioned herself hovering just above her two favorite girls, placing soft kisses onto Persephone's bare back before moving up to press her lips against her wife's.

 

“I wonder what her second word's going to be?” asked Karolina, still grinning. “'Shit'? Or maybe 'damn'. That might be nice. Oh! How about 'bitch'?”

 

“I think it'll be 'mama',” Nico said. “Because her tall mommy is so pretty.”

 

“Oh, don't even try to flatter me to get out of this one!” Karolina said, laughing through her words as Nico broke out in happy laughter as well. “Our baby girl has a potty mouth, and she came by it naturally!”

 

—O—

 

Persephone Dean is two years, eight months and one day old when she flies for the first time.

 

She was playing in her large play area, formed by panels of plastic walls too tall for a toddler to scale, in a cordoned-off section of the Hostel's main room. Her little blocks and dolls were scattered over the cleanly swept and vacuumed floor as Molly sat nearby, working on an assignment for one of her college classes.

 

(There had been an uneasy and decidedly messy week when the robot vacuums built and/or reprogrammed by Alex and Chase and the broom and dustpan enchanted by Nico had declared war on each other, but the hard feelings between the autonomous devices seemed to be back under control, judging from how clean the floors were once more.)

 

Persephone got to her feet to retrieve a doll that had somehow made its way across the play area; she had only taken two steps when she tripped over a handful of blocks, landing mostly on her hands and arms but hitting her chin as well.

 

The thud made Molly look up, just as Persephone started to cry. “Oh, no! Persy!” Molly said, jumping up and running over to the playpen.

 

“What's going on?!” Nico yelled, running out of their bedroom to the second-story balcony, Karolina right on her heels. They had been folding and putting away laundry when they heard their daughter's cries, and they had nearly run over each other trying to get out of the bedroom.

 

“She just tripped and fell!” Molly said, stepping over the wall of the play area. She was eighteen now, taller than all of them except for Karolina and Chase. “I was right here, I saw it out of the corner of my eye! It happened faster than I could move!”

 

Persy had gotten to her feet and was standing at the wall of the play area, her little arms reaching up over the plastic barrier, her hands opening and closing as she grasped for her mommies, whom she could see from the ground floor.

 

“Let me see, Persy,” Molly said as she knelt down beside the toddler, but Persephone angrily shook her head as tears continued to run down her cheeks. She held onto the wall of the play area as she took a step to the side, away from her Aunt Molly.

 

She reached out toward her mommies again, because if her mommies had her, then they could make the stinging in her chin and hands stop, she knew it.

 

Nico was already on the main stairwell going down when she heard Karolina's voice.

 

“NICO!”

 

The loud, startled cry made Nico freeze and look down at their baby.

 

Persephone was glowing, a soft blue and purple, as she floated up over the wall of the play area, wobbling her way toward her mommies as she slowly ascended, arms and hands still reaching for them.

 

Karolina was over the railing of the balcony in a heartbeat, glowing as she flew down to catch Persephone; Nico jumped over the stairway's banister despite only being halfway down the large staircase, twisting her ankle and yelping as she landed but still running despite the pain until she was below their flying daughter. Persy was now well out of her reach, but Nico remained directly beneath the toddler, arms stretched high above her, in case the toddler's fledgling powers gave out before Karolina reached her. She held her position beneath Persy until Karolina gathered the crying toddler in her arms, holding her close as she brought the two of them back down to the ground, where Nico joined them in the embrace.

 

“I'm so sorry!” Molly said, throwing her arms around Karolina and Nico both. “I should have been watching her better!”

 

“Mol, honey, you were right there,” Karolina said, trying to not lash out and cast blame while her emotions were flying in a half-dozen directions at once. “Things happen sometime. Even if you had been looking right at her, you couldn't have caught her. You have super-strength, not super-speed.”

 

Nico felt Molly sobbing as the younger woman clutched to her back, and her reflexive anger ebbed as she realized that Molly had been nearly as terrified as Nico at the thought of something happening to the toddler whom she adored. “Hey,” Nico said, twisting to tug Molly in between her and Karolina. “She'll be good. She's got a little scrape on her chin, and she's going to raise hell when we clean it in a minute, but she'll be okay.”

 

“You're... you're not mad?”

 

Nico looked down at Molly. “Of course I'm mad, but I'm also scared, and I'm relieved that it's not worse, and I'm pissed at myself for not being right here to catch her, and terrified that now we have to worry about her flying, not just climbing and walking, and a bunch of other shit that I can't put into words right now.”

 

“Mom-Mom,” Persephone moaned, clutching Karolina's neck, her skin and hair fluctuating between glowing and not. She reached back toward her other mother and called for her, too, because she had stepped away when she needed to be holding Persephone. “Mama!”

 

Nico made sure that Molly was included in the giant hug again, but the dark-haired woman made sure to press her own face against her baby girl's head, placing a soft kiss on the warm, glowing skin as Molly whispered her own apology to the little girl.

 

“I'm sorry, little Pers,” Molly said, shaking.

 

“It's okay, Aunt Mol,” the little girl spoke, her voice unsteady due to her crying. “I love you.”

 

Molly sniffed. “I love you, too, Persy.”

 

—O—

 

Persephone Dean is three years, seven months and two days old when she meets a baby sister for the first time.

 

There was a lot of yelling and shouting upstairs all day, and Aunt Gert and Aunt Molly took Persy outside to play with Lace. They were talking about taking Persy to get ice cream, which was very exciting to the little blonde girl who liked to wear all black like her mama, but before that could happen, Uncle Chase came out and told them all to come back inside.

 

They carried Persy upstairs and into her mommies' bedroom, where Mama and Mom were both on the bed. Mama was all sweaty, and her pretty black hair was really fuzzy and messy, and it looked like she and Mom had been crying, but now they were laughing and kissing, and they were holding something as Persy climbed up onto the bed using her little step stool at the bed's foot.

 

“Come see your baby sister,” Mom said, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear as she reached for Persephone, and her smile was enormous. “Just be careful not to crawl on Mama's tummy, because she's going to have to rest for a few days.”

 

“That's a bunch of shit,” Mama said, but she laughed even though she said an _adult word_ , which Percy tries not to say as much since she learned she could get in trouble for using them at the wrong time. “You fought an army after you had a baby. I don't have to stay in bed for any two or three days.”

 

“You had some significant tearing, Nico,” said one of the two ladies in purple clothes, tops and bottoms that matched. Persy didn't recognize them, but they had smiled at her and seemed kind and caring. “And you're still bleeding.”

 

“I'll start a healing spell in a bit. But I'm not missing Persy meeting her sister.”

 

When Persephone was close enough, her Mom picked her up and moved her to where she could see what Mama was holding, wrapped up in blankets. It was a tiny wrinkled face with dark hair like Mama's, and the eyes were closed. It looked almost like a doll, but the skin looked softer, and as Persephone watched, the little face's expression changed briefly.

 

“Is that my sister?” asked Persy, her voice high-pitched with a child's surprise.

 

“It is,” Karolina said. “Her name is Lenore. Lenore Dean.”

 

“Leh-nor,” Persephone said, her little mouth testing the syllables. “That's pretty.”

 

“It is.”

 

“Do we get to keep her?”

 

Both her mommies laughed, and Mama started to lean over to kiss Persephone before one of the purple ladies motioned for her to not move like that. Instead, Mom lifted Persy up and moved her so Mama could kiss her forehead, and they settled the little girl between them carefully.

 

“Do you want to hold her?” asked Nico, her eyes red and wet but bright and eager.

 

Persephone nodded.

 

“Hold your arms like this,” said Karolina, showing Persy how to cradle the baby. “You have to support her head, because it'll be too big for her to hold up at first.” As Persy placed her arms like her mom showed her, Karolina smiled. “That's it, baby girl. Good job.”

 

Nico gently moved Lenore to the side, and Karolina helped situate the baby bundle in Persy's arms, stabilizing them as the little blonde girl looked down at the sleeping baby. “Hi, Leh-nor,” Persy said softly. “I'm your big sister, Persephone. I have to take care of you now.” She bent down with the flexibility of a child and kissed the side of the baby's head, which made Lenore grunt and wiggle her arm, which Persy thought was extremely funny.

 

“She moved! She moved when I kissed her!” she said excitedly.

 

“She did,” Nico said, pain still sizzling through her body, but her heart was fuller than she ever thought it could be. She found Karolina's hand and grabbed it, squeezing it as their arms rested beneath the tightly-wrapped Lenore as she sat on Persephone's lap.

 

“You did it, sweetheart,” Karolina said, wiping tears from her face. “You did it. Now _I'm_ the one who's so, so proud of _you_.”

 

Nico broke down crying, overcome with emotion and hormones; rather than try to compose herself and speak, she just let Karolina hold her while she let herself cry, secure and unashamed in the arms of her wife.

 

—O—

 

Persephone Dean is four years, nine months and eleven days old when she casts her first spell.

 

The only magic Nico is trying to teach her at this age are simple protection spells, but Persy keeps having trouble holding her fingers in the right positions, and that leads to her getting frustrated, which leads to her wanting to stop and do something more fun.

 

It's a few minutes after one of those cut-short lessons, when Persy is wiping her eyes and her nose and Nico is taking a walk around the Hostel to decompress rather than teach Persy any more adult words, when a wasp makes its way inside and decides it would be a very good idea to inspect the noisy creature sitting on the ground.

 

Persy's shriek makes Nico spin, her heart rate instantly kicking up as a reflex. She's already running toward the girl, hands ready to cast one of a half-dozen spells, when she sees a shimmer in the air around Persy.

 

It's faint, but there's definitely a pale silver sheen surrounding the girl, and as Nico comes to a halt right over her daughter, she sees a red wasp bumping against the silver field, unable to pass the barrier. Inside the magic shield, Persephone is still crying, leaning away from the wasp, her little hands and fingers in precisely the right positions for a basic barrier spell.

 

“That's my girl,” Nico says proudly as she gestures at the wasp and flicks her index finger, reducing the creature instantly and painlessly to ash.

 

Seeing the threatening insect crumble away, Persephone drops the barrier spell and lunges for Nico, who's squatting down to gather the still-crying little girl into her arms.

 

“Good job, Persy,” Nico said warmly, holding the shivering girl. “I'm so proud of you, and Mom's going to be proud of you too when we tell her.”

 

—O—

 

Persephone Dean is five years, nine months and twenty days old when she starts kindergarten.

 

She's wearing an adorable black short-sleeved dress, the skirt falling nearly to her ankles, with a white lace collar and white lace cuffs at the ends of the sleeves. Shiny black flats are on her feet, along with black crew socks festooned with grinning white skulls. She has a brightly-colored thin scarf, red and pink and yellow, that she wanted to wear for her Mom, who loves bright colors, and Persy knows the first day of school is special. And that there will be pictures taken. So many pictures.

 

Her long, straight blonde hair falls loose down below her shoulders, with her bangs pinned back with little black hair clips. She has a black velvet choker around her little neck, with a silver pentacle dangling at the front, because Mama has explained how the pentacle can stand for several different things, but for Persephone and for this charm, it stands for the five elements and for protection, because she and Mama cast a little protection spell on it the night before, and she's very proud of it.

 

Her backpack is Jack Skellington's head, because _The Nightmare before Christmas_ is her favorite movie ever at this point. The backpack holds as much of her school supplies as it can fit, and the rest are in a reusable grocery bag that Karolina is carrying as she and Nico trail behind their little girl, who isn't quite as little as she used to be, and the two mothers find themselves wiping tears away as they walk up the the wide courtyard toward the school.

 

Hidden Grove Elementary is a small school with great reviews in a quiet, accepting neighborhood away from the busier parts of Los Angeles County. When Nico and Karolina had been visiting potential schools, this look and feel of this elementary school had charmed them instantly, despite it being several miles away from the Hostel. After all, distance isn't really an issue with one parent who can fly and another who can turn them invisible and open portals through space.

 

Karolina and Nico stay with Persy until she finds her classroom, down the main hall, then to the left, then the fourth door on the right. She clearly remembers the way to her classroom, even though they only came here for the first time last week for a kindergarten orientation, and Karolina takes Nico's hand as they watch their daughter find her name on the little wooden cubbies inside the door to the large classroom, take off her backpack and set it down. She unzips the backpack and starts removing the boxes of pencils, crayons and packs of paper; once that's complete, she reaches up and hangs her backpack up on one of the hooks, so that Jack's leering face is is grinning at her.

 

Nico and Karolina kneel down. Lenore's at home today, with Gert watching her. Gert's three months pregnant, _finally_ , and she was happy to watch baby Lenore so that Nico and Karolina could focus on Persephone today.

 

“Are you sure you want to wear this?” asked Karolina, gently running her fingers over her old power suppression bracelet, adjusted to fit the five-year-old's smaller wrist.

 

Persy nodded slowly. “I don't want to accidentally light up if I get upset or excited.”

 

Karolina fought back tears at how smart their older daughter was. Persy had been the one to ask about wearing the bracelet; she was nervous that she might accidentally do something at school that might put her and her family in danger, and she didn't want to let that happen. “Okay,” Karolina said. “You know how to take it off if you need to, right?”

 

Persy nodded again, adding a patient, “Yes, Mom.”

 

Nico lifted her hand and ran her fingers through Persy's wispy bangs, brushing them to the side only to have them fall right back down in front, straight as could be. “We love you,” the dark-haired woman said. “Have a good day.”

 

“Okay,” the girl spoke, throwing her arms around Nico's neck first to give her a hug, then moving to do the same with Karolina.

 

“Do you want us to carry this other bag in for you?” asked Karolina.

 

“I can get it,” said the little girl, taking the grocery bag as she balanced the bag with the other supplies against her chest. “Love you!” she said, smiling, and that smile was so much like Karolina's, warm and open, that it made Nico's heart shiver.

 

They stayed there, kneeling as they watched Persephone walk through the door between the foyer with the cubbies and backpacks into the main kindergarten classroom, where she was greeted by one of the two teachers, who immediately helped get some of the classroom supplies.

 

The older woman, in her fifties, waved at Nico and Karolina, smiling brightly.

 

“I think I need to sit in the car for a bit and cry,” Nico finally said.

 

“Well, we didn't bring a car,” Karolina said quietly.

 

“Then maybe we can sit outside.”

 

Karolina smiled through her own tears. “That sounds good.” She stood, then extended a hand to Nico to help her wife up, more out of politeness than need at this point.

 

The healing spell after Lenore's birth had kept Nico down for nearly two days to let her body recover from the most severe damage from the delivery. After that, she still had to spend several months working on rebuilding her strength and flexibility, spending time in gymnastics classes, which she absolutely hated, and _aikido_ classes, which she loved. She was stronger and fitter than she had ever been, and even though she had bitched and moaned long and hard while doing the work, she was proud of what she had accomplished.

 

“Are you going to take that part-time job teaching at the martial arts school?” Karolina asked as they slowly strolled down the school's hall, fighting the current of students and parents still coming in.

 

“I think I'll take the one teaching the kids and teens. I really don't want to put up with adults.”

 

“Two days a week, right? For just the kids' classes?”

 

Nico nodded. “Oh, hey,” she said, pointing at a bright yellow cardboard sign that proclaimed with hand-lettered writing, _Support Group for New Parents of Kindergarteners—Come Cry with Us!_

 

“Oh, that's great,” Karolina said, trying not to laugh.

 

“Not sure how social I feel right now,” Nico said. She looked up at Karolina. “Sorry.”

 

Karolina put her left arm around her wife. “Nico, you don't ever have to apologize for being yourself, or for being honest about how you feel.”

 

Nico put her right arm around Karolina's waist. “Thank you. You're obviously well-trained on caring for your prickly pear cactus.”

 

“It's easy when she's so cute and adorable.”

 

“I'll kick you out of bed.”

 

“No you won't.”

 

“...No, I won't.”

 

—O—

 

Persephone Dean is five years, nine months and twenty-two days old the first time she gets sent to the Principal's Office.

 

“God, Nico, what did she _do?!”_ Karolina mumbles as they run up the courtyard of the elementary school. “How do you get sent to the Principal's Office in kindergarten? And after just _two days?!”_

 

They had come from a workout, so both of them were wearing running shorts, loose-fitting sleeveless t-shirts (Karolina's a soft coral that proclaimed _Love Everybody_ , Nico's a black that said _Don't Talk to Me until I've Had My Coffee_ ), black sports bras, running shoes and socks (bright yellow for Karolina, teal with orange-and-yellow letters stating _I'm a Delicate Fucking Flower_ for Nico).

 

“Not entirely sure,” replied Nico. “I brought the Staff, in case I need to alter some memories.”

 

“That's a bit much, don't you think?”

 

“For the safety of our kid?”

 

Karolina came to a hard stop, just outside the main doors to the school. “Nico, that's a dangerous path. If we start justifying erasing memories and forcibly messing with kids and teachers to protect our secrets...”

 

Nico sucked in a deep breath as she followed Karolina's train of though. “Then we're no better than our parents were,” she said, the words tasting like ash in her mouth. “Fuck.”

 

“Exactly.” Karolina reached out and gently laid her hands on Nico's cheeks, flushed from the exertion of running from the secluded area where Nico's portal had opened. “I know we need to protect her. But we need to protect other kids, too.”

 

“So what happens if they find out?” asked Nico, looking up and visibly nervous, a rare expression on her face.

 

“Then we'll deal with it,” Karolina said firmly. “But we'll deal with it together, and we'll deal with it in a way that doesn't involve threatening and killing others or altering people's minds. We're better than that.” She placed a kiss on Nico's lips. “YOU'RE better than that, and that's one of the reasons I love you.”

 

“I was ready to do it,” Nico said, mentally kicking herself for overreacting when Karolina stepped forward and hugged her tightly.

 

“Because you defend us,” the blonde said softly. “You'd do anything to protect us.”

 

“I would,” Nico mumbled against Karolina's shirt and chest, fighting back tears.

 

“And when you get lost in that darkness...”

 

“You're my light to bring me back. Thank you.”

 

“You're not your parents, Nico. And I'm not mine.”

 

“No, we can come up with our own disastrous mistakes to make.”

 

Karolina kissed Nico's forehead, leaning back just enough to be able to meet Nico's gaze. “That's my brave little pessimist.”

 

Nico sighed. “Let's go find out what our daughter did to get in trouble on the third freaking day of school.”

 

Karolina nodded, taking Nico's hand as they walked into the school.

 

Nico opened the door to the main office, letting Karolina enter first. The first thing they noticed was Persephone, seated in a chair off on the right side of the room, her face slightly red. The second thing they noticed was a boy about her age and size seated on the far left of the room, as much distance between the two of them as possible. The boy was crying, holding what looked like an ice pack to his cheek and eye.

 

Persephone, on the other hand, wasn't crying. She was mad. She was wearing a long black dress today, with a black lace shawl wrapped around her shoulders and little black boots on her feet.

 

Karolina immediately started over to Persephone, with Nico right behind her. The blonde was already kneeling to check on Persephone, who threw her arms around Karolina first, then opened them to wrap around Nico's neck as well.

 

“Ms. Dean?” said a man's voice from above them.

 

Nico and Karolina both looked up.

 

“We're both Ms. Dean,” Nico said. “We're Persephone's mothers.”

 

“I'm Yorick Garrett,” said the tall, lean man, who appeared to be in his mid to late fifties. “I'm the principle here at Hidden Grove Elementary. Please come into my office. Persephone can come with you.”

 

Nico's innate stubbornness made her debate challenging the man by asking for Persephone to stay right where she was, but she didn't want to make their daughter feel like they were shutting her out, so she simply stood and helped Karolina up, with Persephone sliding down out of the big chair and following them, rubbing at her eyes.

 

The four of them stepped into a large office, with plaques, awards and, surprisingly, artwork from children hanging on the walls. The office seemed official without being ostentatious, and Nico thought it was a promising sign that the drawings, presumably made by students, outnumbered the awards and plaques by over a two-to-one ratio.

 

“Please, have a seat,” said the principal, taking a seat behind his desk.

 

Nico and Karolina both settled into two of the leather chairs, with Persephone climbing up into Nico's lap, holding onto her mama.

 

“The reason Persephone was sent to the office today...” began the principal. “Well, I'm afraid she hit another student this morning.”

 

Persephone suddenly sat up in Nico's lap, faced the principal and yelled, “Bullies get punched in the face!”

 

Karolina immediately turned to Nico, and the blonde's expression suggested she didn't know whether to laugh or fuss at her wife as Persy continued.

 

“That's what Mama says! 'Bullies get punched in the face!' And that boy was being a bully to another boy, who was smaller than him, and the bigger boy made the little boy cry because he took his toys away from him and pushed the little boy down! So I went over and punched the bully in the face and gave the little boy his toys back! And yes, I hit the bigger boy, because he was being a bully, an' the only way to make a bully stop is to hit them in the face!”

 

Nico kissed the back of Persephone's head at the end of her forcefully delivered statement; the little girl turned and buried her face in her mama's chest, trying not to cry any more.

 

“Persy,” Karolina said softly, waiting until the girl was looking at her. “Did anyone tell the teacher?”

 

Persy nodded. “The teacher had already fussed at the big boy earlier for being mean, but she had gone to the bathroom! That was when he took the little boy's toys away and made him cry.”

 

“Why did you think you needed to do what you did?”

 

“Because the little boy was crying, and the mean boy said that if anybody told on him, that he'd take their toys away, too!”

 

Karolina met Nico's eyes, and the jet-haired woman gave her a very subtle nod after reading the change in emotion in the blonde's eyes. Karolina wasn't entirely happy with their daughter taking Nico's maxim literally, but she was even more passionate about justice.

 

“What's the punishment for hitting another student, Mr. Garrett?” asked Karolina.

 

“Normally, it ranges from in-school suspension for three days to out-of-school suspension for five days, for a first offense.”

 

Karolina looked at her daughter again. “Persy? Even though you broke a rule by hitting another student, what you did was the right thing.”

 

The principal started to speak, but a quick look from Nico gave the older man pause, despite the dark-haired woman with her arms protectively wrapped around her daughter being nearly half the older man's size.

 

Karolina continued, “So you're going to accept the consequences of your actions and take the punishment the principal feels is appropriate. That's part of being responsible and being honest. Do you understand?”

 

Wiping tears, Persy nodded, still on Nico's lap.

 

“ _But_ ,” Karolina continued. “You're not going to be forced to apologize for stopping a bully from picking on someone else.” She turned and fixed the principal with a firm look, holding it for a few seconds before turning back to Persephone. “Protecting others is very brave and very noble, and even though we risk getting in trouble for it, we still have a duty to protect others when they can't protect themselves. And because of what you did today, I imagine that mean boy is going to have second thoughts before he tries to bully anyone again.”

 

“This school has an anti-bullying policy,” Nico said, looking at Mr. Garrett. “We read the policies and procedures handbook. The boy involved is being punished as well, I hope?”

 

“Absolutely,” replied the older man. “In accordance with the school's policies.”

 

“I'd think that his punishment would have to be equivalent to Persy's, if not worse, correct?” added Karolina. “Since her actions were to protect a classmate and stop a bully?”

 

There was a brief pause before Garrett carefully replied, “I believe that would be equitable.”

 

“Good,” said Karolina, smiling, though the expression was notably less sunny than usual for her.

 

Nico turned Persephone around on her lap, so that the girl could look at both of her mommies. “Hey,” Nico said quietly, lightly touching the blonde girl's nose. “Even though you broke a rule today, you had a good reason for doing it, and your mommies are proud of you for standing up for someone else. So you go accept the consequences of your actions and hold your head up high, because you did a good thing.”

 

“I'm not sure that's the poin—”

 

“It's _absolutely_ the point,” Nico said, lifting her gaze to meet the principal's. “Because the only thing that stops bullies _is_ standing up to them and punching them in the face.”

 

Persephone grinned, hiding the expression in her mama's shirt.

 

“Whether it's a teacher punishing a bully or someone else physically challenging them, that's the language that bullies speak and understand,” Nico continued. “Karolina and I are very aware of this, because we've dealt with our share of people who try to intimidate and threaten others. We also understand fairness, and we're aware of this school's policies, and that's why we're fine with Persy accepting the consequences of her actions. But we're proud of what she did today, even though she got in trouble for it, and we're not going to hide that. Because of her, hopefully there's going to be one less bully in the world from this point on.”

 

Persy turned and hugged her mama. “I love you, Mama,” she said into Nico's chest.

 

“I love you, too, Persy,” Nico replied. “You make us proud with how well you do in school, okay?”

 

“I'll try,” replied the little girl.

 

“You will,” Karolina said, kneeling to get a hug herself, the girl's arms wrapping around Karolina's head. “You get the extra work done, and you keep looking out for others, okay? Using force is only okay as a last resort and only to protect others. You use your mind and your words first.”

 

“Except for bullies?”

 

“I think this bully has learned his lesson,” Karolina said, avoiding the question while they were still in front of the principal. “And what you did today will serve as a good lesson for any other potential bullies, so hopefully there won't be anymore that you have to punch in the face.”

 

Nico leaned down and whispered in Persy's ear, “But yes, bullies still get punched in the face.”

 

—O—

 

Persephone Dean is six years, nine months and twenty days old when she meets her best friend.

 

It's the first day of first grade, and Persephone has just taken her alphabetically assigned seat at one of the tables in the classroom when a girl almost her size stops next to her and asks a question in Spanish.

 

Two girls across the table laugh, and one of them looked at the new girl and says with a nasty smirk, “We speak English in this country!”

 

Persephone looked up at the new girl. She's tall and lean, with a quiet strength in her stance. Her hair is long and dark brown with curls and reddish-blonde highlights. Her skin is a light brown, her eyes a bright hazel, and her fiery expression is almost exactly like how Persephone's mama Nico would look if someone had laughed at _her_.

 

“ _They're little bitches,_ ” Persy calmly said, in Spanish. Her Aunt Molly made sure she learned it along with English, and she didn't leave out any of the adult words. (Her mama Nico is teaching Persy Japanese too, but that's slower going.)

 

The new girl's head whirled to look down at where Persy sat. A huge grin spread across her face. _“Where did you learn Spanish?”_ she asked.

 

“ _My aunt taught me when I was learning how to talk. She said it was always good to know another language, and that I was the perfect age to learn.”_ She smiled at the new girl, whom she decided she liked. “What's your name?” she asked, switching back to English.

 

“Gloriana Chavez,” replied the girl.

 

“You sit right here!” Persy said with delight, pointing to the little sign reading _Chavez_ on the table beside her sign, _Dean_. “I'm Persephone. Persephone Dean. But my mommies and my friends usually call me Persy, 'cause it's quicker to say.”

 

“You have two mommies too?” asked Gloriana, surprised to already meet someone she felt comfortable with at this new school.

 

Persy nodded. “Yep, my mama Nico and my mommy Karolina. I have a baby sister, too. Her name's Lenore, but she won't start school for a few years. She's too little. And my Mom's pregnant again too, but they don't tell anyone the baby's name until she's been born.”

 

“I don't have any brothers or sisters,” said Gloriana. “My mommies say I'm enough of a handful by myself right now.”

 

Persephone giggled.

 

Gloriana sat, holding out her right hand for Persephone to shake, which the blonde did eagerly. _“I'm glad I have someone at this table with me who isn't a stuck-up...”_ (she paused as she looked around) _“...bitch,”_ she said in Spanish, the last word at a whisper.

 

Persephone giggled again. _“Me too!”_ she replied in the same language.

 

—O—

 

Persephone Dean is seven years, one month and five days old when she meets her second baby sister. This time she's old enough to actually be in the room when Pandora Dean is born, and the experience convinces her that she is never having a baby. Ever.

 

But when the fair-haired, blue-eyed girl opens her eyes and looks up at Persephone, the look of wonder makes Persy's breath catch in her throat, the same way it did with Lenore four years ago. And Persy knows that she would do anything to protect this young life, just as she would for Lenore, even though Lenore sometimes likes to take her toys and hide them. Persy knows her sister just does that because Lenore is jealous that Persy can fly and she can't, not yet.

 

Lenore's a natural with magic, though, and Persy has to admit being impressed with her little sister—well, now her middle sister—and how easily and skillfully she can conjure protection spells. Mama Nico has already had to start teaching Lenore some elemental magic, because Lenore was making the sinks and bathtubs overflow entirely on her own just last month. Mama has included Persy in the lessons as well, and it's surprisingly more fun to learn magic when someone else is learning at the same time.

 

Persephone is still holding Pandora when Uncle Alex brings Lenore into their mommies' bedroom. Lenore is as wide-eyed and slow of step as Persy was just over three years ago, and Persy remembers those mixed feelings of trepidation and wonder very well.

 

Lenore climbs up the same step stool Persephone used on that night, and she carefully crawls up the length of the bed, being cautioned not to press on Mom's stomach or legs because they're going to be sore for several days, even though Mom heals faster than Mama.

 

Mama Nico moves to make room for Lenore to sit beside Persy, the three girls now between their proud (and sweaty and dirty and thrilled) mothers.

 

“Her name's Pandora. Do you wanna hold her?” Persy asks Lenore, smiling as the little jet-haired girl with bright blue eyes looks up at her big sister and nods somberly.

 

“First you have to put your arms like this...” Persy says, and she's so focused on helping Lenore get her arms in the right position to support the baby's head that she doesn't notice when her proud, happy mothers start crying again at the precious moment.

 

—O—

 

Persephone Dean is eight years, three months and seventeen days old when she creates her first talisman.

 

It's a simple thing, two thin strips of cured leather with three hairs each from her head and from her friend Gloriana. She braids the two soft leather strips with the combined hairs, alternating between the three strips while being careful not to break any of the delicate hairs. When the length is right, her mama Nico helps her tie each end off so the ends of the bracelet can be joined together once they're finished.

 

Once that's done, it's a matter of casting the spell she wants, a wasp-repelling spell (because Persephone has a good memory and still doesn't trust wasps), and adding another enchantment to tie the spell to the woven bracelet.

 

“Is that it?” she asks her mother.

 

“Not yet. The spell isn't permanent. It'll fade, unless we pay for it in some way.”

 

The little blonde wrinkles her nose. “How do we pay for the spell?” she asks, the tone in her voice making it quite clear that she thinks having to pay for magic is silly.

 

Nico both adores her daughters' innocence and dreads that it'll be taken away from them, piece by piece, by magic. By _their_ magic.

 

“Our magic comes from pain, Persy. It's dark magic, and that doesn't mean it's bad, it just means that it's dark.”

 

“Like when the lights are turned off in the room at night?”

 

“Exactly like that, Tiny.”

 

“Don't call me Tiny!” says the little girl, happily acting out her fake offense at the nickname. “Just 'cause _you're_ tiny doesn't mean I'm gonna be!”

 

Nico's mouth opens slightly at the retort. “Who said that?”

 

“Uncle Alex.”

 

“Sounds like I need to have a talk with Uncle Alex, then.”

 

“Uh huh.”

 

“Anyway, our magic is dark, just like the powers you get from your other mom are light. Your light powers are fueled by sunlight and energy, and your magic powers are fueled by pain. So if we want to make this spell you're putting into the bracelet last, we have to pay for it. Three drops of blood should do it.”

 

Persephone didn't want to give up any of her blood. But she didn't want her friend Gloriana to be stung by a wasp, either. She bravely nodded her head, maintaining eye contact with her mama.

 

Nico smiled and cleaned Persephone's left ring finger with alcohol. “You need to watch, Persy. Don't panic, and don't try to pull away. I'm only going to very lightly prick your finger. It'll sting for a few seconds, but it _has to sting_ for this to work.”

 

“Okay,” Persy said, trying to be brave. She kept her eyes open like her mama said, and she watched as her mama gently grasped Persy's finger close to the tip and moved a long knife toward her finger.

 

“Hold very still and try not to tense up, okay?”

 

“Okay,” the little girl breathed, and yes, there was a sting. It wasn't good, but it wasn't terrible, then the tip of the athame, because that's what it was called, was gone, and her mama was holding the talisman beneath the tip of Persy's finger.

 

“Turn your finger over, Persy.”

 

She did, and as soon as she did so, a drop of blood jumped off, landing on the leather and hair bracelet. Another followed, then another before her mama smiled and turned Persy's hand back over.

 

“Hold this on your finger,” she said, handing her daughter the alcohol wipe. “Pinch it a little, and it won't hurt as bad.”

 

Sure enough, that did help with the stinging in her finger, so the little girl pinched it firmly.

 

“Now,” Nico said, handing Persy the bracelet so she could hold it with her left hand while keeping pressure on the little cut in her fingertip. “Do you remember the gesture for binding?”

 

Persy nodded, making the symbol with her right hand and slightly twisting her hand at the wrist. As she did so, she felt a warmth in her left hand, and she saw silver threads stretch between her right hand and the bracelet, hovering and swaying for a few seconds before disappearing.

 

“Congratulations,” said Mama, smiling as she ran her fingers through Persy's blonde hair. “You just enchanted your first talisman. Talk to me before you try to do any others, okay? There's still a lot you need to learn before you start designing and making your own independently.”

 

Persy nodded, admiring the little bracelet. Now Gloriana didn't have to worry about being stung by wasps.

 

Nico leaned over and wrapped her arms around the little girl, who melted into her mama's embrace. “You've got both the dark and the light inside of you, Persy, and they're both part of who you are. Never be ashamed or afraid of either one.”

 

—O—

 

Persephone Dean is ten years and four months old when she has her first kiss. Both of them.

 

Her fifth-grade class is making decorations for the upcoming Valentine's Day dance, which her Aunt Gert was really pissed about, because it was a demeaning and objectifying artificial holiday that was only created to sell things and creates more heartache than it does happiness. But the school was having the dance despite Gert's strongly-worded letter, and so she and Gloriana are cutting out shapes from colored construction paper while talking about kissing, and how strange it is that in fourth grade kissing was gross and disgusting, but in fifth grade the thought of kissing stirs up different feelings entirely.

 

Both girls are tall for their age, nearly the same height, though Gloriana's arms and legs are stronger from several years of playing soccer, basketball and volleyball. Persephone still plays soccer but only AYSO and for fun, not for the school, but this year she's decided she's going to try out for the volleyball team. She loves swimming, but she doesn't like the noise of people yelling in indoor pools, so she stays away from any swim teams. She's not the natural athlete Gloriana is—Goga is speed and power and agility all rolled together when it comes to sports—but Persy likes the physical effort and sense of accomplishment found in practice and being part of a team, and her family has always encouraged her to follow her interests.

 

“What do you think it'll be like?” Persy asks Gloriana as their scissors slowly whispered, cutting the thick paper while seated at one corner of a work table. Persy was wearing a black camisole with black satin pants, two different necklaces hanging down over the soft black fabric of her top, with black running shoes.

 

“Soft,” replies her friend, wearing a purple tank top, a royal blue zip-up jacket because the tank top didn't meet dress code, denim shorts that themselves tested the limits of the school's dress code and a red pair of high-top Converse Chuck Taylors. “That's how _mi madre_ says my mom's lips feel.”

 

Persephone gets a bit of a dreamy look on her face as she thinks about it, and she places her scissors down on the table as she stares off out the window. “Mama says that Mom's lips are soft and warm and kind of tingly, especially when she's glo—”

 

Persy looks at her friend and grins. “You know,” she says, and her friend _does_ know, because Gloriana Estrella Chavez's mothers America and Kate aren't just friends with Karolina and Nico Dean, they're colleagues. The four women have worked together on more than one occasion by this time, and they've all gotten to be friends thanks to the two girls.

 

There's a tap on Persephone's shoulder, and she quickly turns around out of reflex, her lips bumping into the rough lips of Gary Lonsdale, one of their classmates. The boy had tapped her shoulder and then leaned forward, tricking Persephone into turning around so that her lips would mash against his, and the blonde girl was NOT happy as she realized what he had just done.

 

“That was a good kiss!” said Gary, so delighted with himself that he foolishly ignores the glare of hate in Persephone's brown eyes... until those dark brown eyes suddenly turn a dully glowing red-purple.

 

“Oh crap,” the boy mumbles, suddenly paralyzed with fear as his skin lightens to a sickly pallor.

 

There had always been rumors about Persephone Dean being a witch, because of the way she dressed and the way she acted, but Gary had never believed any of it, because regular people weren't witches, just the Scarlet Witch with the Avengers.

 

But now Persephone stands up and her fingers slide into peculiar positions, and silver light begins to swirl into strange symbols around the blonde girl's hands, and Gary is now _absolutely_ convinced that Persephone Dean is not only a witch, but that she's going to kill him right here and now.

 

“Pers,” Gloriana says, gently laying a hand on Persephone's left wrist. “Not here,” the Latina girl whispers.

 

For two long seconds, Gary knows terror like he's never experienced, then the silver symbols vanish from around Persephone's hands, and the blonde girl's eyes go back to their usual brown, and Gary RUNS from the classroom because he's peed on himself.

 

Persephone starts to quietly cry, and Gloriana feels her heart ache for her best friend.

 

“Oh, Pers,” she whispers, rubbing the blonde girl's shoulder as Persephone stares out the window.

 

“That was my first kiss,” Persephone whispers, her voice raw. “And I didn't even want it.”

 

“Then it doesn't count,” says the other girl, confidence in her voice. _“It was bullshit, and he was a little prick for doing that,”_ she adds in Spanish.

 

“ _I wanted my first kiss to be special,”_ Persephone continued in Spanish, wiping at tears that continued to well up in her eyes. _“I wanted it to be someone I really loved.”_

 

“ _And it will be,”_ Gloriana says, wishing that she could trade her own growing powers for the ability to turn back time. _“Like I said, what he did doesn't count. You still have your first kiss, Pers, and you can still make it someone who's special to you.”_

 

Persephone turns, her brown eyes now rimmed in red with glistening tears in her eyes, and she's so beautiful and so amazing and so upset that Gloriana considers marching down to the boys' bathroom and throwing Gary Lonsdale through the window. Or maybe the wall.

 

Persephone takes in a shaky breath. Her lips part slightly, and the blonde girl's visibly quivering as she stares into her best friend's hazel eyes as she breathes, “I want my first real kiss to be someone special to me.”

 

Suddenly Gloriana realizes two things: what's about to happen, and that she absolutely, wholeheartedly _wants_ it to happen.

 

“I want my first real kiss to be you,” whispers Persephone, and as she leans in to close the minuscule distance that remains between them, Gloriana does the same, their lips meeting gently and hesitantly at first but then quickly pressing tight as two magnets as the two friends clutch each other's arms, swept up in the overwhelming sensations that bombard both of them.

 

Persephone starts to open her mouth, the way she's seen her moms do when they kiss, and Gloriana is following her lead when a chorus of OOOHS rise up around them, making the two of them abruptly pull back, mouths both slightly open and the tip of Persephone's tongue just visible to Gloriana as she stares at the soft, warm lips of her best friend, who is doing exactly the same to her.

 

The two of them are frozen, both struggling to regain some semblance of conscious thought as the rest of their class closes in on them, staring and laughing. Then the two sets of bright eyes haltingly slide upward, hazel meeting brown, each pair spending long, tense seconds searching their counterparts for any doubt, any shame at what they've just done.

 

Then, finding none, Persephone and Gloriana both smile at each other, step forward and hug tightly, a silent, tactile affirmation that they're good with each other. Neither one of them complains when they're sent to the principal's office for violating the school's policy on displays of affection. As far as they were concerned, it was totally worth it to make Persy's (and Gloriana's) _real_ first kiss special.

 

—O—

 

Persephone Dean is thirteen years old exactly when she realizes that she is in love with her best friend.

 

It's at her birthday party, held at the Hostel, when that particular revelation hits her with the force of a meteor.

 

All of her family is there, and her Gramma Leslie and Leslie's son Jacob, who's Persy's uncle despite being less than a year older than her, and Gloriana and _her_ mommies. None of their other friends from school were invited to this particular party, because explaining why Persephone has a dinosaur would be a bit too much for most of them, and Persephone expects that some of her school friends' parents would be a bit freaked out about a hundred-kilogram carnivore running loose around the house instead of politely being extinct.

 

It's in between the goofy party games and opening presents that Persephone and Gloriana decide to go for a quick fly.

 

The two teenagers shoot through the Hostel, keeping their speeds slow until they're between the open sky and the ochre desert floor. Persephone's shining in her indigo, purple and pink light, darker in hue than her mom but just as intense in brilliance, while Gloriana looks no different than usual beyond the fact that she's flying and her long dark hair is fluttering behind her head.

 

She and her sisters have discovered that all of them have slightly different coloration when they're using their Majesdanian abilities, with Persy being mostly a deep indigo with pinks, purple and blues, Lenore a bright green-white with some blue and yellow flashes at times and Pandora essentially a riot of glowing pastels; Persy doesn't recall ever seeing her youngest sister manifest any shade of brown, but she's seen every other color in Dori's rapidly flickering glow, the brilliance sometimes shifting rapidly enough to appear a pure white when Dori's excited, and it fits her youngest sister's personality incredibly well.

 

If their mama Nico was meant to challenge the status quo, the loud, bold Pandora was meant to obliterate it, smiling and laughing the whole way. Nearly six years old, Dori was as outgoing as Mom, never meeting a stranger, always finding the silver lining in any dark cloud, charming everyone she met. She had flown before she turned two, younger than any of them and keeping Mama frustrated until she had learned a safe, painless tether spell, and while Dori had trouble keeping her mind focused enough to maintain even a basic protection spell for longer than a few seconds, she was already doing tricks with light and energy that Persy had just mastered in the last year.

 

Lenore was the quiet one of the three sisters, and there was no argument she had a gift for sorcery unmatched by Persy or Dori. Most likely those two qualities went together. While Persy and Dori had blonde hair like Mom, Nor had Mama's deep black hair, and she especially loved it when Mama helped her style her hair into elaborate shapes and braids to match her own. Even though she was only nine, Nor was visiting Kamar Taj twice a week to practice her sorcery, and she had thrown herself into martial arts more than her two sisters. The two disciplines strongly complemented each other, and despite being quiet, Lenore was slowly growing in her confidence, which made Persephone extremely happy for her closest sister, who preferred to read and study quietly and was happy to be overlooked in comparison to Dori's commanding personality.

 

“What's on your mind?”

 

Persy shook herself out of her thoughts to see the smiling face of Gloriana only centimeters away from her own; apparently the showoff had rolled over so that she was facing Persy, then drifted closer and closer until their noses were nearly touching, as they flew at over one hundred kilometers an hour.

 

Goddess, Gloriana was beautiful. Everything about her. Her hazel eyes, her aquiline nose, her cocky smile, her strong shoulders and arms, her lean swimmer's build, her strong thighs and lower legs, her confidence with how she carried herself despite frequently being just as uncertain on the inside as Persy.

 

Without even thinking about it, Persephone's mind went to their kiss, back in fifth grade. It was the only time they had kissed, and Persy didn't think she'd ever be over it. Every time Gloriana was with her, every time they spent the night together, the way her clothes smelled, the warmth from her body, the laugh that melted Persephone's heart, all of it kept reminding Persephone of that time when they had been wholly unashamed of showing their affection, before the vagaries and social firing squads of middle school had taken that freedom away.

 

“Ground Control to Persephone-One!”

 

Persy laughed. “You're not on the ground! You're flying with me!”

 

“Well, you're ignoring me!”

 

“I'm not ignoring you. I'm just... thinking.”

 

“Oh, you're a teenager now, so you have to get all mopey and broody?”

 

“Hey, you're a teenager, too! You're a month older than I am! AND an only child!”

 

“Are you, Miss Persephone Dean, implying that _I_ am mopey and broody?”

 

Persephone grinned, meeting her best friend's challenging gaze. “I'm not _implying_ anything, Little Miss Chavez.” As soon as she finished her sentence, she accelerated, making Gloriana chase her as they laughed.

 

Persephone Dean was in love with her best friend. And despite everything she and Gloriana shared, despite knowing the history of her mom Karolina feeling the same fear about revealing her feelings toward her mama Nico when _they_ were teenagers, Persephone was inexplicably afraid to share the true depth of her feelings toward her best friend with anyone.

 

—O—

 

Persephone Dean is thirteen years, nine months and two days old when she discovers she can survive in space without any special equipment. On a related note, it's the same day she saves her first life _and_ becomes an international hero.

 

She's training in the desert with her mom when Karolina gets the distress notification on the Avengers frequency. (She and Nico have consistently declined full-time status, but they did finally accept reserve status a few years back, after Kate and America threatened to glitter-bomb the Hostel.)

 

A Russian spacecraft with a combined Japanese-Indian crew headed for the Euro-Asian Space Habitat has suffered a critical failure while trying to achieve orbit. Safety measures explosively jettisoned the rest of the fuel along with the defective rocket away from the cabin module holding the astronauts, but the rocket detonated close enough to the crew module to damage their flight control and their emergency re-entry systems. They're tumbling out of control and still in the inexorable grasp of the Earth's gravity, with no way to correct or to slow their descent. There's no chance of survival, not unless someone can stabilize or rescue the craft in the next few minutes.

 

As soon as Karolina has the coordinates, she puts on the clear glasses with built-in optical displays Chase built for all of them (though Molly never wears hers) and shoots toward the sky. The glasses receive the coordinates being broadcast on the Avengers frequency and display the crew module's projected glidepath to guide Karolina's ascent, but even with Karolina going supersonic, the glasses' processor calculates she won't reach them for another three minutes.

 

The astronauts' projected time of survival at their current temperature and rate of descent is just over two minutes.

 

Karolina has her eyes focused far ahead, so intent on pushing beyond her top speed that she doesn't even realize that Persephone has caught her until she feels her daughter's fingers gently touch her temple.

 

Startled, Karolina glances down to see Persephone's wearing her own version of Chase's glasses, given to her last week as an early birthday present because Persy wouldn't stop asking him about when they were going to be finished. They're still missing the chip to allow the device to monitor and access emergency frequencies, but otherwise they're ready to go. As Karolina takes in her oldest daughter's focused expression, she feels a tingle of magic against her temple, and the display on Persephone's glasses lights up to matches Karolina's own.

 

Persy gives her mom a smile, and then she's GONE, a silver swirl trailing behind her as the teenager uses her sorcery to boost her natural flight speed, accelerating faster than Karolina can believe possible. As Karolina continues to watch, she sees silver sigils and runes manifest and rapidly vanish as Persy creates widely-spaced portals in a straight line ahead of her, flying through them sequentially to cover even more distance in a flicker of time.

 

“Nico,” Karolina says, the shielded microphone in the glasses registering Karolina's words via conduction of sound through the bones in Karolina's face and head. “ _Please_ tell me you're seeing this.”

 

“ _Where the fuck did she learn to do THAT?!”_ comes her wife's shocked voice over the conduction speaker.

 

Karolina can only shake her head, unable to keep from smiling with motherly pride. “I have no idea,” she said, still rocketing toward space.

 

When Karolina meets Persephone fifty-four seconds later, the teenager is flying back down with a solid grip on the crew module that she holds in front of her, negating most of its weight while generating a cone-shaped shield of royal blue and purple flecked with silver sparkles in front of the module to shield the vehicle and crew within it from the friction of re-entry.

 

Karolina arcs around to match her daughter's descent, admiring how Persephone is using her flight to slow the module's descent to mitigate the amount of heat her light field is having to absorb.

 

“They've got another ten minutes of oxygen,” Karolina says as she pulls beside her daughter. Persephone's visibly sweating from the effort of maintaining her light field as well as keeping the survival cabin and six crew members, still weighing more than her despite the gravity-shielding effect of her light field, from plummeting to a fiery end.

 

Persy looks over at her mother. “Good to know,” she says. No target for a landing zone has appeared, so she's flying mostly blind, just aiming for the nearest continent beneath them, currently South America.

 

“They're getting us a target for a touchdown site.”

 

“Can they make it somewhere close to home? I think I'm gonna collapse once I finally get this down on the ground.”

 

Karolina drifted over to her daughter and hugged her as they flew. “I don't think I've ever been as proud of you as I am right now,” she said, ending the sentence by kissing the top of Persy's head.

 

“Oh my god, mom,” Persy hissed. “They can _see_ us, you know!”

 

Karolina looked down at the survival craft; sure enough, one of the tiny portholes was oriented to where she could see into the craft, with at least two of the crew in their tan spacesuits clearly watching. She waved to them, getting two careful, hesitant waves back.

 

“Even in space, you're embarrassing me,” Persy said, enormously glad that no one could see her blush through her indigo glow.

 

Karolina backed off slightly, trying to conceal her smile from her oldest daughter as she used the optical controls in her glasses to signal the built-in communicator to transmit. “Avengers Control, can you possibly get us a neutral landing site in North America to avoid any potential political or national conflict?”

 

“ _Understood. Stand by.”_

 

“They're getting us a location in North America,” Karolina said. “Or did you piggyback on the audio signals as well?”

 

“No, I didn't think of that,” Persy replied, slightly miffed at herself. “Just got the visual.”

 

“Good to know you're not skilled enough to replace your mother and me just yet,” Karolina said, a smile in her voice and on her face. “That was a neat little trick with the magic to boost your speed, though.”

 

“Thanks. It was Nor's idea. We just started playing around with it a few weeks ago, after she had time to work through the planning stages.”

 

Karolina tried not to wince at the thought of her daughters “playing around” with dimensional portals and flying through them. They definitely had plenty of Nico in them. “I hope that Dori wasn't involved with this.”

 

“Oh, no,” Persy said. “We—”

 

“Hang on, getting a transmission.”

 

“Oh, I see it. It just popped up on my visual. I mean, on your visual. Which is my visual too.”

 

“Got the coordinates, Avengers Control. ETA at current speed is touchdown in just under five minutes. See you there.”

 

Persephone paused for a moment. Her left shoulder was starting to ache from holding onto the survival cabin and slowing its fall, her right hand and forearm were tingling and stinging from continuously manifesting the energy field as a heat shield, but the adrenaline flowing through her body made her feel like she could do this for as long as she needed. “We haven't even told Dori about the portal thing. She's too young and too inconsistent with her sorcery to try something like that, and Nor and I both know she'd try it anyway.”

 

“Thank you for watching out for her. That's something else your mama and I are both proud of.”

 

“ _Absolutely,”_ said Nico's voice through the bone conduction transmitter.

 

“Your other mom agrees,” Karolina said.

 

They continued their descent, adjusting their path to follow the trajectory projected onto Karolina's glasses. Since Persephone was copying Karolina's signal, that meant her trajectory would be off by a few meters, but that wasn't going to be that big of an issue.

 

“Looks like they're bringing us down in Texas,” Karolina said, studying the digital waypoint that remained the same size as North America grew larger in their sight.

 

“Well, I guess that's closer than Australia would have been.”

 

“We'll portal home. You're going to be zapped when all this adrenaline wears off. How are your arms holding out?”

 

“Nothing bad. My left shoulder's going to be jacked for a few days, unless I can max the sun time. That'll help.”

 

Now they were close enough to see cities, farms and geography, less than a minute from the ground. The landing site came into focus, and there were already a few vehicles gathered around the otherwise empty patch of flat, featureless tan ground on the grounds of the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.

 

“Well, at least they're giving us a nice target. You can probably follow that by eye now.”

 

“Oh, yeah. Easy.”

 

“Then I'm going to turn these off and hang back a bit to let you focus,” Karolina said, glad Persephone couldn't see her face, or her expression would have given away that she had something planned. “Unless you need a hand getting them down safely?”

 

“No, I've got it,” Persy replied quickly. “Thanks, Mom.”

 

Karolina turned off the visual on her display glasses, then slowed before stopping entirely, letting her daughter make the last of the descent entirely on her own. The wireless electromagnetic transmissions down at the landing zone were so thick that Karolina could see them, thanks to her extended range of vision, which Persephone hadn't learned how to perceive yet.

 

Karolina activated the communication spell in her necklace, concentrating only on Nico as she thought the activation phrase. “I let her take it down herself,” she said, her words only going to her wife. “The EM traffic is so thick down there that there must be a half-dozen news crews waiting. I have no idea how they got there so fast.”

 

“ _And people say I'm the mean one.”_

 

Karolina laughed; she knew Nico had her favorite smile on her face. “Well, she just saved a half-dozen lives by herself. She deserves the credit without her mom hanging around, mooching off her publicity.”

 

“ _I'll have to remember that one.”_ There was a pause, followed by, _“She really did a good job?”_

 

“Oh god, Nico, she did SO well. I didn't tell her about the gravitational pull increasing the closer she got to Earth, but it didn't seem to affect her or catch her off-guard. And her speed is ridiculous, even without that little speed boost thing she did. I can't keep up with her at her top speed.”

 

“ _I'll have to talk to Persy and Nor both about testing their own spell designs without at least checking with me first. There's serious potential for things to get real shitty real fast. But damn, that WAS nice, and the bit with using the portals to cut down on the distance was brilliant, even though it took some precise flying to pull off.”_

 

Karolina wiped glowing tears away from her face. “She's going to be amazing, sweetheart.”

 

“ _She already is. She learned from the best.”_

 

“That she did. All of us.”

 

Karolina hovered there for a few seconds before flying away briefly and then doubling back to approach from a different direction. She landed next to several media vans, increasing the electromagnetic glare from her light to muddle any video or pictures that might be taken of her. When she was this close to this many cameras, it was smart to take extra precautions to keep anyone from making the connection between the hero Starlight and Karolina Dean.

 

She was pleased that all eyes seemed to be on Persephone as the teen set the escape craft down with only a slight jolt. Two of the military (she couldn't tell which branch they were in, just they were wearing fatigues and had guns) noticed her, but a wave from her satisfied them.

 

Being a reserve Avenger did have its perks.

 

The overlapping _bang_ s of several minor explosions made Karolina look back to Persephone and the crew module, where the astronauts had just triggered the explosive bolts to jettison the escape hatch.

 

Persephone was right there while the smoke was still clearing, helping the crew step out of the cramped module. Some of the astronauts already had helmets off when they stepped out, while others removed them as soon as they stepped onto solid ground. Spacesuits quickly followed, until the exhausted men and women were down to their lighter tan uniforms.

 

The three Japanese crew members, all men, bowed nearly to the waist as they faced Persephone; they were visibly surprised when she returned the bow, not as low as them but low enough to indicate that she, being so young, was more than a bit embarrassed that they, being older, more experienced _and_ distinguished scientists, would honor her quite so much.

 

“Thank you,” said the most senior of the three in careful English.

 

“ _You're welcome,”_ Persephone replied in smooth Japanese, smiling politely.

 

That brought expressions of wonder to the faces of the Japanese crew, and a quick flurry of conversation grew between the four of them. Persephone had to concentrate, as she wasn't used to processing Japanese from three different speakers at once, but she managed to keep up without embarrassing herself. The Indian crew members join them then, offering their own thanks in English, and the still-glowing Persephone shakes hands with the two women and one man.

 

It's at that point when the medical teams, growing anxious, sweep in, taking over with the crew members. Persephone withdraws, turning and taking a half-dozen steps away, her eyes on the sparse brown plants dotting the rust-colored desert earth, before she looks up to see roughly thirty cameras and maybe twice as many microphones a few meters away, all pointed in her direction.

 

It was a jarring experience, and when over a dozen voices started yelling at her at once, she visibly jumped.

 

“ _Who are you?! What is your name?!”_

 

“ _Are you part of the Avengers?!”_

 

“ _Are you in the military?”_

 

“ _How old are you?!”_

 

“ _Do you work with Captain Marvel?”_

 

“ _Are you Japanese? Were you speaking Japanese?”_

 

“ _Does Japan has a superhuman program?!”_

 

Persephone concentrated and increased the glow of her powers, like she and her mom had practiced, to make it hard for cameras and the human eye to focus on her features. The dark blue and indigo of her light intensified, muting the silver, yellow and pink sparkles slightly. She raised her hands, open with the palms facing the cameras, motioning for everyone to quieten down. She was pleased when all the voices stopped.

 

“I, uh, just have time for a few questions,” Persephone said, trying to keep her voice clear and not mumble ( _Thanks, Mom_ , she thought to herself). “Then I... kind of need to get back home. I have school tomorrow.”

 

As titters of polite laughter circulated through the crowd of journalists, Persephone pointed at one reporter on her left.

 

“Are you an alien?” asked the woman.

 

“I was born in California,” Persephone replied drolly, and another soft swell of laughter passed through the crowd. She pointed at another reporter, this one an older man.

 

“Are you a service member of the United States military?”

 

“Um, no. I don't even have my driver's license yet.”

 

Now the laughter was more pronounced, and pleasant smiles appeared on faces throughout the crowd of reporters and camera operators.

 

Persephone pointed at another reporter, this one a weathered woman with short, dark hair.

 

“Reconnaissance aircraft are reporting the Avenger Starlight was seen escorting you as you brought the escape craft with the astronauts back to Earth. Your powers appear to be similar to hers. Is there a connection between the two of you?”

 

Persy looked off to the side of the gaggle of journalists, her eyes quickly finding the familiar pink and purple glow of her mother standing well back, out of sight of all the journalists focused on Persephone. She smiled.

 

“Starlight's my mom. She's teaching me.”

 

 _That_ prompted a surge of voices speaking at once. Persephone reacted by lifting her hands again, asking for silence once more.

 

“One more question, then I need to go,” she said. She pointed at a young man, who had to be in his early twenties.

 

“If your mom is Starlight, what's _your_ name?” he asked.

 

Persephone smiled.

 

“Twilight.”

 

—O—

 

Persephone Dean is thirteen years, eleven months and one day old when she has her heart broken for the first time.

 

Persy stretched out on Gloriana's queen-sized bed, watching as the long-haired brunette tears into her closet like it personally offended her.

 

“What's your deal?” Persy asked, lying on her back with her head hanging off the side of the bed, watching her upside-down best friend. “You're acting really weird.”

 

Gloriana turned to look at Persy, and there's a hesitation, a look of apprehension that confuses the blonde. Gloriana is brash, brassy and unapologetic, and she doesn't look at Persephone like this, like she's afraid of hurting her best friend's feelings.

 

Gloriana doesn't blush, either, but now she is, and that makes Persy roll over to continue the conversation right-side-up, because whatever's going on, Persephone feels like she's not going to like what Gloriana has to say.

 

“I... have a date,” the Latina girl says slowly, hesitantly.

 

Persephone feels her heart drop, like it's just been pulled into another dimension with no hope of ever escaping. “Wh... What?” she manages to say, even though her ears are ringing, her head feels like it's shaking and cold sweat is beginning to form on her lower back.

 

Gloriana walks over to her and drops to her knees, less than a meter away from her stunned best friend. “I have a date,” the brunette says as she takes in the sight of a pale Persephone on her bed, visibly shaking. “Jeremy Glass asked me out three days ago. We're going to the movies tonight.”

 

“But...”

 

“I didn't know how to tell you,” Gloriana says, and it's obvious that tears are forming in her own eyes as she speaks. “I love you, Persy, I _do_. You are and always will be my best friend.”

 

Persephone closes her eyes tightly, not quickly enough to catch the lone tear that slides wetly down her left cheek.

 

Gloriana's fingertips gently catch the tear, carefully swiping it away before those fingers cup Persephone's face. “I don't want to hurt you,” the wavy-haired brunette whispers. “I know how much you care for me, how you feel about me, and I want to be as honest with you and as careful with you as you've been with me.”

 

Persy nods, feeling Gloriana's skin slide across her cheek with the motion. “You've... always told me you weren't sure if you loved me the same way I love you... as more than a best friend,” the blonde replies, even though her throat feels like it's tearing with each syllable spoken. “You've always been honest. You've never led me on.”

 

“And I won't. I'm _not_ sure, Pers. We're just fourteen. Well, close enough for you.”

 

That gets a wet laugh out of Persephone, and Gloriana smiles at the sound.

 

“We're still figuring shit out. And your feelings might change, too. You might find that perfect girl or perfect boy—”

 

“You can scratch the 'perfect boy' option. You're the one who's still figuring that part out.”

 

“—You might find the perfect girl _tomorrow_ , Pers. And you'd _have_ to give it a chance to know.”

 

Persy nods. “You're right,” she whispers, and it SUCKS, because Gloriana _is_ right, but Persy's right, too. She's already found her perfect girl, and that perfect girl is centimeters away from her face. Persy's already kissed her, and she knows that Gloriana's lips are what forever tastes like.

 

But love isn't always easy. Her mothers have always taught Persy to do what's right, and what's right here is to be Gloriana's best friend, to stand by the person she loves both as a friend and as something more, to be there for her, to not pressure her or push her away, to give her freedom to make her own choices, even if those choices break Persy's heart.

 

Persephone slowly sits up, being careful not to bump heads with Gloriana, who watches her through red, tear-filled eyes as the blonde girl moves to the side of the bed.

 

“You should wear the half-vest with your yellow shirt and the brown shorts,” Persephone says, her heart screaming _traitor_ with every word she speaks. “You look really cute in them. Your legs are incredible, and those shorts show them off without being too slutty. And the yellow makes your hair and eyes both pop.”

 

Gloriana walks over to Persephone, as the other girl stands. She takes Persy's hands in her own and looks into those sad, loving blue eyes. “Thank you,” she says softly.

 

“You'll always be my best friend,” Persephone whispers. “I won't ever let anything change that. I swear.”

 

Gloriana nods, and if she feels her own heart breaking a little bit too, she pushes it down. This needs to be done. She has to know. She has to figure things out. “It's just going to the movies,” she says. “That's all. I promise.”

 

Persephone doesn't reply verbally. Instead, she opens her arms and hugs Gloriana tightly, so tightly that it might have cracked a rib were the other girl not already nearly indestructible. As they pull apart, Persephone pauses and leans in to place a soft kiss on Gloriana's forehead, holding it for a long second before withdrawing.

 

“Call me and let me know you're home safe, okay?” Persy says, taking a step back. “No matter what time.”

 

Gloriana nods. “I will.”

 

Persy nods, then she turns and quietly walks out of the room. She thinks Gloriana's mom Kate says something to her as she's hurrying out of the house, but she doesn't stop, because she's seconds away from breaking down into a blubbering mess, and she wants to be as far away as possible from this house and these people who love her when that happens.

 

She can barely keep her hands in the right position for the invisibility spell as she opens the door and flies away, and she's pretty sure the invisibility flickers on and off a few times as she's flying faster than the speed of sound toward a quiet little corner of the mountains where she can cry as much as she wants.

 

—O—

 

Persephone Dean is sixteen years and four days old the first time she and her sisters battle a supervillain by themselves.

 

It happens in Kamar Taj of all places, somewhere Persephone thinks she's the safest. Her mothers are helping Doctor Strange deal with a civil war in the Dark Dimension, where someone named Umar has challenged Dormammu for dominion over the twisted reality, so Persephone, Lenore and Pandora are all practicing their sorcery along with two dozen other students.

 

Persephone was wearing a black sportsbra under a cutoff black Babes in Toyland t-shirt with a pair of black yoga pants. Lenore was wearing a long black dress when they arrived—of all of them, she's definitely the one who raids her mama Nico's closet the most, although admittedly Persephone's ability to do so is now limited by the fact that she's a good sixteen or seventeen centimeters taller than Nico—but now she's changed into a dark red workout top with a black sportsbra and black sweatpants. Pandora, being Pandora, didn't have on two articles of clothing that matched; a tie-dyed t-shirt, pink and black striped shorts, mismatched socks and a handful of bracelets both woven and elastic. In fairness, Dori _did_ have on running shoes that matched, but she had kicked them off immediately upon arrival in Kamar Taj, because Wong made her clean up the black scuff marks her shoes had left on the stones of the courtyard the last time she wore them.

 

They're in the middle of practicing sorcery forms with the other students when everything just goes blank.

 

Persephone sits straight up as she comes to. Only a few seconds have passed, but she has no idea what happened. There are unmoving bodies sprawled all around her on the stones of the practice ground, and astral forms litter the air surrounding her, all of them looking just as confused as she feels.

 

She twists around in time to see an unfamiliar man wearing dark red robes plunge a curved dagger into the chest of an apprentice, the young man's astral form watching helplessly as he tries to rejoin his body but is unable to do so. All the other sorcerers are similarly struggling, trying to merge their astral forms with their bodies while something seems to be preventing that.

 

In Persephone's line of sight, she sees Lenore suddenly sit up as well, surprised much like she was moments ago. A familiar gasp and rustle behind Persy tells her that Dori also just came to, so obviously whatever drove the others' astral forms out of their bodies didn't work as well on the three of them, either because of their more resilient alien physiology or because the darkness that runs through them doesn't appreciate magical competition.

 

And now the man in the red robes is running toward Lenore, who's closest to him but has her back to the man, so she hasn't seen him yet.

 

Persephone is already floating to a standing position as she unleashes a blast of indigo and blue light at the man, hitting him squarely in the right side and sending him tumbling, his robes smoking. She's flying toward him as she realizes that the man has rolled with the blast, removed his scorched outer robe and regained his footing in one smooth motion.

 

She blasts him again, but a yellow mystic shield has appeared in front of him, blocking her stream of raw energy.

 

“I do not know you,” he says, face both calm and determined as he regards her. “If you're not a wielder of magic, then I have no quarrel with you.”

 

Suddenly his right arm moves, and as it sweeps downward, a wall of stone and earth erupts in front of Persephone, cutting off her vision.

 

She launches herself upward, but she only makes it a few meters before the earth wall explodes, hammering her with dozens of hard projectiles the size of her fist. Her energy field blocks some of it, but it still feels like she's been shot with a shotgun over her entire body.

 

The rocks suddenly swoop back in toward her, but she has her own barrier up now, silver shimmering in the air around her as the rocks strike her field and drop to the paved ground, inert once more.

 

“So you are a sorcerer, but something else as well,” says the man. He's older, and he moves with a patient grace as his eyes study her carefully. “There is something familiar about your magic. Something I've seen before, only... different.”

 

Persephone descends back to the ground, not turning off her energy field. She's going to need all she has to get out of this, because this man sounds far too calm for her liking.

 

“Ah,” he says, and a smile crosses his face that isn't entirely unfriendly. “Tina Minoru. Your magic is connected to her, somehow.”

 

“Tina was my grandmother,” Persephone answers before her rational brain tells her mouth to shut up and not give this man any more information that could be used against her. “My mom's Nico.”

 

“Yes, the current wielder of the Staff of One. I've heard about her challenging Dormammu. Most impressive, especially given her lack of training at the time.”

 

“You seem very well-informed,” Persy says. “I don't suppose you'd share your name, would you?”

 

“My name is Mordo,” replies the man, and the ease with which he spoke unnerves Persephone. He doesn't seem cruel, or angry, or violent, yet moments ago she had just watched him murder a helpless man without batting an eye.

 

Movement behind her almost makes her look away from Mordo, but she manages to resist the urge.

 

“I know who you are,” says Lenore, behind and to Persephone's right. “And that your goal is to destroy magic, because of its potential to be used for chaos and destruction.”

 

“Nor, you need to go,” Persy says, not taking her eyes off Mordo's hands. “Take Dori and go.”

 

“I'm not leaving you alone. Not with him. He'll kill you, no matter how polite he is.”

 

“Nor, GO! Get out of here!” Persy says hotly.

 

“Persy?” says a hesitant voice from behind and to the blonde's left.

 

“Dori? You little shit, you need to go too! You and Nor go get help!”

 

“I'm not a little shit!” snaps the nine-year-old.

 

“She doesn't mean it, Dor. She's trying to make you mad so you'll take off and get away,” Lenore says, patient and perceptive as ever.

 

“Dammit, Nor! Will you please take her and GO?!”

 

“If we leave, he'll kill you. Not trying to insult you, Persy, just stating a fact. The only chance we stand is if we work together. Mordo helped train Doctor Strange. He's got decades of experience with magic. He's going to win any straight-up fight against you or me.”

 

“Okay,” Persephone says, unsure what her sister was trying to do. “Any advice, then, since you're the one that does most of the studying?”

 

“Yeah. Don't give him a straight-up fight.”

 

Persy starts to say something when a gleaming bolt of multicolored light flashes into existence to her left, blue and green and purple and red, colors swirling chaotically from one to another inside the gleaming bolt of energy. The blast hits Mordo on his right hip, its suddenness catching him off-guard and spinning him partly to the side.

 

Persephone launches upward as Pandora does the same, the two of them flying away from each other as they unleash bolt after bolt of colored light at Mordo, who quickly uses a barrier made of stone to shield himself from the rapid-fire attacks coming from opposing and constantly changing positions.

 

While her sisters strike from above, Lenore charges him on the ground, a glowing green katana made of runes and mystic energy in her right hand. She grips the blade with both hands to drive it through Mordo's barrier, not waiting to see if she actually hit him before she detonates the mystic blade in an explosion that she channels through the tiny opening into the stone dome. Both the physical and the astral shockwaves are repeatedly reflected and amplified by the conjured stone wrapped around him, pummeling him multiple times in a split-second. Any unprotected human's internal organs would be pulped by such an explosion, and even Mordo's left dazed despite his relics and protections. His barrier crumbles along with his concentration, just in time for Lenore to illuminate into a brilliant green and white and unleash a matching stream of light at his head.

 

Mordo's reflexes are lightning-quick, sufficient to allow him to shield himself from that point-blank attack and Pandora's blast at his back with another barrier, but he isn't prepared for Persephone to animate the stone beneath him. The flagstones encase Mordo's feet and twist, snapping his ankles and causing him to cry out in pain as his barrier crumbles again.

 

Persy erects a glowing light barrier around all four of them, looking down at Lenore and hoping that her sister guesses what she's doing. She nearly laughs with delight as she sees her quiet, measured sister's already started the process of removing the oxygen from the space within the barrier, just like they had discussed using as a combat tactic months ago.

 

The disappearance of the oxygen doesn't affect the one-fourth-Majesdanians, who can survive in space unaided, at all. Dori continues to blast away at him, keeping his attention on shielding himself from her rapid-fire beams of kaleidoscope colors raining down from all angles as she circles him like an aerial shark, until the sudden lack of breathable air manifests with no visual cues to warn Mordo.

 

The older sorcerer feels his chest seize and his heart suddenly erupt in searing pain as his throat convulses, trying to find oxygen that simply isn't there any longer. Lenore and Persephone are already casting binding spells on Mordo, immobilizing his fingers, hands and arms and covering his mouth to prevent speech. Pandora hits him with one more light blast before she realizes what's happening, then she adds her own restraints, bright red and blue light that fully encases Mordo's arms and feet; she's still hesitant with her sorcery, and for something so critical as subduing a supervillain, she's sticking with her more comfortable Majesdanian powers.

 

Once Mordo is completely incapacitated and Lenore and Persephone have both checked for any illusions or misdirection and found none, Persephone drops the barrier and Lenore brings the oxygen back. Lenore casts a spell to heal some of the damage Mordo suffered from the combined heart attack and ischemic stroke, then Persephone places Mordo in a stasis spell for good measure.

 

That's how things are when their mothers and Doctor Strange return a few minutes later. Strange recognizes the magic Mordo used to force the others' astral forms out of their bodies; once he breaks the spell, the apprentices are able to rejoin their bodies, even the one who had been stabbed, as Lenore had healed the damage to his physical form once Mordo was truly locked down.

 

As soon as the girls finish their story, Nico has the Staff of One raised, her mouth already opening with a spell to tear Mordo into tiny, bloody pieces for attacking her daughters. It's Persephone who stops her, reflexively reaching up with her left hand open, palm forward, gently pressing against the ebony shaft of the Staff to stop the movement of Nico's arm.

 

When she touches the Staff, she feels a strange flood of sensations and emotions that flow between the two of them, hot and cold and indescribable at the same time. The fine, nearly colorless hairs on the back of her neck and her arms rise up, her tongue and lips tingle, and she tastes something bitter like metal or weak acid in her mouth as dark power flows through her. The sensation is strange, but it's not unwelcome, and she finds that she's not afraid of it in the least. She reaches out emotionally with a sense of curiosity and calm acceptance, because to Persephone, it feels like the artifact is sharing with her as much as she's sharing with it, the Staff tasting her spirit while she tastes its power.

 

“Persy?” asks Nico, her face no longer filled with a protective mother's rage, as that's been replaced by concern. “Are you okay?”

 

Persephone looks up at her mother, then at the headpiece of the Staff again. This close, its familiar crackle of white-yellow electricity seems almost alive in a way, and more than that, it feels... comfortable, she supposes.

 

“Yeah, I'm good,” Persephone says, giving the Staff's shaft a light pat before removing her hand. “I guess I just hadn't touched the Staff, like, ever.”

 

Karolina steps over to put her arm around her wife, smiling at their oldest daughter, who's now essentially eye-level with the tall blonde.

 

“How did it feel?” Karolina asks, curious. “The Staff.”

 

Persephone looks at the palm of her hand, then at the Staff once more. “It felt... like it knew me, I guess,” she finally spoke.

 

“That's because it does,” says Karolina. “It knows all three of you. It's why we have each of you.”

 

She looks over and motions for Pandora and Lenore to join them, then turns to Nico and gives her wife a kiss and a pleading look to try and ensure that Nico isn't going to execute Mordo as soon as no one's looking.

 

“We're so glad you girls are safe,” Karolina says, wrapping her wife and their three daughters in a group hug.

 

“And we're proud of you for kicking Mordo's ass and saving everyone else,” adds Nico. She doesn't spoil the girls, but she tries to make sure that she gives them praise and positive feedback when it's earned, mainly because Tina never did that with her, and she doesn't want any of her kids to grow to be as bitter as Nico had become prior to letting herself love Karolina.

 

“Thanks, Moms,” Persy says. After a moment of thought, she adds, “You two are incredible,” and she means it, because as she gets older, she sees all the headaches and responsibilities and just crazy shit that her moms have to deal with, and part of her envies Nor and Dori that they get to avoid adulthood just a bit longer.

 

—O—

 

Persephone Dean is seventeen years, two months and eight days old when her relationship with Gloriana changes forever.

 

True to their word, the two girls remained best friends over the last four years while Gloriana dated what felt like an endless string of boys and girls. Gloriana took great care to never flaunt a date or girlfriend or boyfriend around Persephone, and Persephone kept her feelings for Gloriana on the side of friendship as much as possible. It was difficult the first few months, but the two made it work, because it was important to them.

 

It takes a few years for Gloriana to realize why she keeps finding disappointment days or weeks into her relationships: it's because none of them are Persephone. Once the honeymoon phase of a new relationship is over, then all that's left is a relative stranger who's not as kind, not as considerate, not as funny, not as smart, not as honest, not as incredible as her best friend. Some of them do manage to equal or surpass Persy in one aspect, but none of them come close to what Persephone means to Gloriana, to the easy familiarity and quiet comfort they find in each other.

 

Gloriana's Moment of Revelation, as she will come to call it over the decades, comes shortly before the extended Runaways family celebrates the Winter Solstice, honoring and including all the holidays they can think of while not putting any of them above the others. She and Persy are in their pajamas (dinosaurs for Goga and hedgehogs for Persy) lying together on a couch in the Hostel, watching _Beetlejuice_ for the hundredth time and laughing as they discuss Gloriana's latest breakup (because he dared to say that the movie, her and Lenore's favorite, was “dumb” after she wanted to watch it on Netflix) when Gloriana suddenly realizes that THIS is what she wants.

 

This. Right here.

 

This happiness, this ease that she has with her best friend, that's she wants in a relationship, in a partnership. The honest but compassionate talk, the humor and comfort they find with each other, the way that they can touch and hold each other without any pressure or awkwardness despite Persephone still quietly carrying a love stronger than friendship for the strong, bold brunette who likes shirts that show off her belly and lower back, shorts that violate dress codes and stars and stripes in her clothing.

 

They can do this because Persy loves and respects and accepts Gloriana for who she is, just as Gloriana does the same for the friendly blonde who still dresses in black concert t-shirts and black leather shorts and black witchy dresses and still wears dark eyeshadow and lip color because she _wants_ that darkness that's part of her out there for everyone to see, just as everyone can look at her golden hair or bright smile or luminous skin and see the light that's just as much a part of her as the darkness.

 

This is what Gloriana wants every day for the rest of her life.

 

“Pers?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“I'm about to tell you something, and I really don't want you to laugh or think I'm joking, okay?'

 

Persy shifts to her right so she can turn and look at Gloriana, who's holding Persy on her lap. “I promise,” says the blonde, and she means it.

 

“I know why all my relationships fall apart. All them except for one.”

 

Persephone keeps her brown eyes trained on Gloriana's hazel ones. She can sense those feelings she's kept locked deep inside struggle to break free, but she can't let herself hope, at least not seriously. It's not fair to either of them. She's Gloriana's best friend, and that's how it's going to stay unless she hears otherwise directly from her Goga. She wants to make a joke to ease the tension she can feel in her friend, but she has a feeling that'd be the wrong thing to do at this moment, so she forces herself to stay quiet until she manages to ask, “And why is that?”

 

The look that Gloriana gives her is raw, and while there's fear in those hazel eyes, there's also hope, and Persy's too scared to even breathe at this moment.

 

“It's because...” Gloriana says, stopping when her words hang in her throat. “It's because they're not you.”

 

“Goga,” Persy says, and her locked-away feelings are now flooding out in a torrent, and it's taking every single speck of self-control she has to not fall onto the floor, onto her knees, and ask Gloriana to marry her right then and there, dating be damned. But she CAN'T. She CAN'T DO THAT. It's not fair to either of them for her to put that kind of pressure on her best friend. “I'm _always_ going to be your friend. _Please_ don't think I'm expecting anything of you, because I love you too much to do something like that, to manipulate you, or guilt you. I don't _ever_ want you to think that—”

 

The only thing that stops her desperate protests is Gloriana's lips pressing against hers, and the dreamy sensation is even better than it was in fifth grade, because Persephone has never forgotten how it felt to kiss Gloriana Chavez.

 

When they start to pull apart, Gloriana grabs Persephone's head and chases her lips down, pressing their mouths together again, and at that point neither of them hesitates to see just how deeply they can kiss each other.

 

After nearly a minute, the answer is, deep enough for both of them to nearly pass out, because when they finally pull apart, the world is spinning around Persy, so she lays her head down on Gloriana's left breast, and Goga's chest is rising and falling so fast that it's triggering another wave of vertigo for the blonde girl.

 

“Holy fuck,” Persephone manages to squeak out as she holds onto Gloriana for dear life, riding her body like a surfboard riding the waves, her own heart thrumming like the beating of a hummingbird's wings as her best friend clutches Persy just as tightly and desperately.

 

“ _Madre de Dios_ , Pers,” Gloriana swears weakly, her throat thickened with emotions too numerous to count as her brain hums and her body sings.

 

It takes a minute or two for the two girls to come down from the intense sensations that are flowing through both of them. Until then, they just stay where they are, the tips of Gloriana's fingers lightly trailing up and down Persephone's back, Persy's right leg thrown over Gloriana's legs and her head still resting casually on Gloriana's breast, and the irony of the situation is that this is _exactly_ how they have lain, on this same couch, for years now, long before either of them realized the true depth of intimacy between them.

 

“So where do we go from here?” Persephone asks, hating how frightened she sounded. “I... I don't want to lose what we have. Not ever.”

 

“Why would we have to change?” asks Gloriana, smiling that warm, confident smile that's always made Persephone's heart melt. “We already act like we're married.”

 

Persephone laughed softly, because they _did_ act like a couple, and they had for years, even when Gloriana was dating someone else. Now there was only one last line between them that needed to be crossed, one final intimacy that they had never shared, and realizing that prompted a bit of anxiety on Persephone's part until Gloriana spoke again.

 

“But we are _absolutely_ going to kiss more, because no one's _ever_ kissed me like you have.”

 

They do kiss a few more times as the movie plays, after checking to make sure that neither of Persy's moms or any of her aunts or uncles or little cousins are nearby, quietly giggling with the guilty delight of getting away with something sneaky. That lasts until it's ten o'clock and time for Gloriana to go home.

 

Persephone is about to open a portal back to the Chavez home when Gloriana's long fingers gently slide up Persy's left forearm. The touch is intimate in a familiar way, but now it's so much more as well, and Persephone shivers bodily as she processes that it's not just Gloriana touching her, it's her _girlfriend_ touching her, because there's no doubt what they are, not any longer.

 

“Do you mind if I tell my moms?” Persephone asks as they stand holding hands and facing each other, close enough that their breasts are pressing against each other, and that contact is _seriously_ fucking with Persy's concentration at the moment.

 

Gloriana smiles. “You can tell absolutely anyone you want, Pers. Anyone. I'm officially off the market, because I'm yours from now on.”

 

Persephone lifts her right hand and places it on Gloriana's left cheek as she leans in and presses their lips together, using all her willpower to keep the kiss brief, because if she doesn't, there's no telling to where she might open a portal.

 

“I love you,” Gloriana says, and though she's said those same words in that same order many, many times before to Persephone, now there's a slow, deliberate conviction to them that Persephone's ears detect.

 

Persephone blinks her eyes several times to try and stave off the tears, but it's no use, and she doesn't care. She smiles through the single tracks of tears that snake down her cheeks. “I love you too,” she replies. “Dream about me tonight,” she adds, boldly.

 

The smile on her girlfriend's face widens. “Count on it, Princess,” says the brown-haired girl. “I'll see you in the morning.”

 

“Absolutely.”

 

Persephone moves her hands, and the now-familiar portal opens, silver sigils glowing in the air as the circle forms and shimmers, revealing the familiar furniture of Gloriana's bedroom.

 

Gloriana places another kiss on Persephone's cheek and runs her fingers through Persy's blonde bangs before she turns and steps through into her room. She waves, and Persy blows her a kiss instead of her usual wave goodnight, getting a laugh from Gloriana as the portal closes.

 

Persephone sits down on the couch, her mind swirling as she tries to wrap her head around what's just happened in the span of the last two hours. Her body flares into indigo and purple light as she suddenly flies forward, sliding through the doorway of the Hostel's media room, so named years ago after Alex installed updated wiring and a home theater system (donated by Wizard for quality testing purposes) into one of the previously unused rooms in the Hostel.

 

Persy flies up to the second floor, hovering in front of the closed wood-and-glass doors to her mothers' room. She hesitates briefly before knocking but eventually does, knuckles rapping lightly on the glass as she realizes she's terrified of the conversation she's about to have.

 

Pink light illuminates the room on the other side of the doors' white curtains, and one door opens to reveal Karolina, glowing and smiling as she sees her oldest daughter.

 

“Hey Persy!” Karolina wastes no time floating forward and wrapping her arms around her daughter. “Did Gloriana go home?”

 

“Yeah,” Persephone says, and she knows that the grin on her face is going to give things away, but her lips can't stop curling into a smile.

 

“What's up?” Karolina asks, turning her glow off once more.

 

Persephone settles to the ground while her lights also fade back to her regular skin. “I, uh, need to ask you and Mama about...”

 

She stopped and blinked her eyes a few times, trying not to cry. God, this was embarrassing enough, and crying would only make it worse.

 

“Nico's in the shower right now,” her mom says, and Persy took a moment to see that Karolina was wearing a cutoff plain white t-shirt and loose, thin sleep shorts. “We're going to visit Wizard's Dublin office tomorrow, so we're losing several hours. We need to get up a bit earlier than usual.” Karolina sits down on the bed, and even though she was thirty-five and had on no makeup whatsoever, the blonde still looks like a supermodel. There are a few laugh lines forming on her forehead that makeup easily kept concealed, but Karolina's not shy about them. She's proud of everything she's experienced in her life, and she's grateful that she's lived long enough to have three wonderful children.

 

Persephone takes a deep breath as she flops herself down onto the large bed on her back, staring up at the chandelier and the bedroom's high ceiling. “Goga and I are girlfriends now,” she says. “Like, _dating_ girlfriends.”

 

When there's no audible reaction, she looks over at her mom. Karolina's sitting there with that familiar proud smile on her face, but there's definitely deep emotion in those blue eyes, and before Persy knows it, her mom's fallen atop her, hugging her.

 

“Congratulations,” Karolina says softly. “I'm so happy for you!”

 

“It feels like a dream, you know?” Persy says, grinning up at her mom as Karolina sits back up again.

 

“Absolutely,” replies her mom, nodding. “I remember your mom and me going on the run after the dance where we kissed for the first time. We were homeless and had nothing but the clothes we were wearing, but the whole time we were in that horrible situation, all I could think about was how beautiful Nico was and how happy I was, because even though I had lost everything that I had ever had growing up, I had gotten _so_ much more in return.”

 

“Aw,” says a familiar voice, and the bed dipped slightly as Nico crawled across it to kiss Karolina's lips. “I felt exactly the same way, babe.”

 

“Hey, Mama,” Persy says, looking up to see Nico wearing one of Karolina's pink t-shirts, her long hair still damp from the shower. Her other mom also looks amazing for thirty-five, and she looks even younger without her makeup, like she was still in her early twenties.

 

“Hey, squirt,” replies Nico, who stretches over to place an upside-down kiss on Persy's forehead, getting a giggle in reply. “What's on your mind?”

 

Persy takes a deep breath and sits up, turning as she sees Nico use a spell to finish drying her hair, the purple glow around her hands for only a second before fading. Before she can say anything, Karolina is looking at Nico with delight.

 

“Apparently our big girl has a girlfriend now!” says the blonde.

 

Nico's eyebrows shoot upward. “Really? I figured she wasn't going to date anyone until Gloriana finally got her head out of her ass.” When Karolina didn't say anything in reply and just continued to smile her happy smile, Nico's expression changed into more of a sly grin. “Ohhhhh,” she said, turning to look at Persy, who was blushing again. “So did _you_ remove Glory's head from her ass, or did she do it herself?”

 

“She did it herself,” Persy says, still blushing.

 

“Well, it's about fucking time,” Nico says, but there's no bitterness or anger in her voice, and once she's issued her comment, she leans forward and wraps her arms around Persephone. “I'm so happy for you, Persy. Goddess, you've loved that girl since grade school.”

 

“Sounds familiar, doesn't it?” Karolina interjected, getting a knowing look from her wife.

 

“What is it with you Dean women?” Nico asks playfully, smiling at the woman she loves.

 

“We know what we want,” Karolina replied, leaning forward and smiling as Nico releases their daughter and leans to meet her wife, pressing her lips to Karolina's. “And we're patient enough to wait for the best.”

 

“Can't argue with that,” Nico replies, still grinning as she looks back at Persephone. “Don't you have school tomorrow?”

 

“Yeah. Holiday break is coming up, though.”

 

“But not for another week. So you need to be getting in bed.”

 

“Yeah, well...” Persy says, her voice trailing off. “There _was_ one more thing I was wanting to talk to you two about.” She took a deep breath, channeling her focus as she blew the air out before speaking. “Sex... with a woman.”

 

“Oh!” Karolina said, her eyebrows shooting upward.

 

“Goddammit,” Nico swore softly.

 

—O—

 

Persephone Dean is seventeen years, two months and fifteen days old when she has sex for the first time. It's with her best friend since first grade, her first real kiss, the woman of her dreams, and it's sweet, loving and nowhere near as awkward as Persephone was afraid it would be.

 

Afterward, she and Gloriana are cuddled together in Persephone's bed in the Hostel, facing each other as their naked bodies press together, only a thin sheet over them as they try to cool off.

 

“I love you,” Persephone whispers, staring into hazel eyes that have her future written in them.

 

“I love you too,” replies Gloriana, staring right back at those dark brown eyes that promise everything without saying a word. “That was incredible.”

 

“I was good?” Persy asks, hopeful but acutely aware that she's utterly new at this.

 

“I haven't had _that_ much experience, Pers,” Gloriana teases, “but I've never felt anything like this with anyone I've fooled around with. It was like... you were touching my _soul_ , I guess.”

 

Persephone nodded. That was exactly how it felt to her, too. “Maybe I was,” she said, a proud smile on her face. “Maybe we both have been all along, and we're just now realizing it.”

 

“That was nice of your moms and aunts and uncles to do their solstice party in one of the other houses and give us the Hostel tonight. My moms weren't quite as laid-back about this as yours were.”

 

“Well, I think your _abuelas_ were pretty strict, from what your _madre_ has said. And we both know your mom Kate's parents are their own kind of dysfunctional.”

 

“True. Speaking of our 'rents, how embarrassing was the sex talk with them?”

 

Persephone laughed, grinning that uninhibited wide grin that she definitely inherited from Karolina. “It was totally worth it to see how flustered my mama got. And it was actually good.” Persephone looked thoughtful for a bit, then she said, “They were very open, and as weird as it was talking to my moms about having sex with a woman, they really made me feel a lot better by telling me that there was no one right way to do things. We just need to talk to each other, focus on making each other feel good and try things out. That's how we'll figure out what we both like and what works for us.”

 

Gloriana nodded. “ _Madre_ says, 'Comparison is the thief of joy.' I like that concept.”

 

“I do too,” Persephone agreed, running her thumb over Gloriana's lips, which pursed to lightly kiss it. “I'll try anything with you, hon, as long as it doesn't involve someone else. I want you and you only, and I don't plan on sharing you.”

 

“I agree with that,” replied the brunette, smiling at her girlfriend. “Your moms are pretty cool, you know. I couldn't imagine talking about sex with mine. They're both great moms, but they keep some stuff seriously private.”

 

Persephone smiled happily. “Yeah. I am lucky, I guess, to have the family I do.”

 

Gloriana ran her fingertips down Persephone's bare ribs, getting a shiver and giggle from her girlfriend. “It's so cool to have a big family,” she admitted. “Thank you for letting me be part of yours.”

 

“It's not as cool when your little sisters keep taking your stuff.”

 

“Which they do because they look up to you, Pers.”

 

“It's still annoying. You want to borrow one of mine for a few months?”

 

Gloriana laughed. “Do I get to choose?”

 

“No. You'll get either Nor summoning giant sentient octopuses who want to watch Hulu and play cards, or you'll get Dori buzzing around the house painting, playing music, singing or designing clothes, sometimes all at the same time. Which one you get will be a surprise.”

 

“If you come with her, I'd love to have either one.”

 

Persephone smiled and kissed her girlfriend's nose. “You know, my moms were this age when they got together, and they're still together. And disgustingly in love.”

 

Gloriana smiled, and it was her wide, happy smile, the one she reserved for very special occasions. “I'm counting on it, Pers,” she said.

 

“So am I,” replied the blonde. She scooted forward enough to kiss her girlfriend, moving slowly and taking the time to savor the moment as she kept looking into Gloriana's eyes. They had the rest of the night tonight, and the rest of their lives after that.

 

—O—

 

Persephone Dean is twenty-one years, eight months and zero days old when Twilight is officially inducted into the Avengers. This comes after she not only helps Captain Marvel prevent a war between Earth and Majesdane but also helps negotiate the subsequent peace treaty between the two planets.

 

At the public ceremony, Lenore is in the very front, wearing the black silk wrap that covers most of her face as well as her ebony cloak and black corset-top dress. She took the name Eclipse for her superhero identity, and the glamour she developed that turns her skin jet-black and radiates darkness instead of her natural white-green light _is_ pretty damn cool. She's not planning on using the glamour forever, just while she and Dori are still in school, to make it harder for anyone to identify who they are in real life.

 

Pandora stands proudly beside her sister Lenore, her luminous colors still flickering and changing several times a second. The peculiar effect makes it nearly impossible for cameras to accurately focus on her when her powers are active, so she doesn't do much to conceal her identity. She's too young to officially do any hero work, but she _might_ have sneaked out to help Nor or Persy a few times. She's almost fourteen, a dead ringer for Karolina at that age except she likes to keep her blonde hair shorter than Karolina did, and she's already broken more hearts than Persy and Nor put together because she won't pick a boyfriend or girlfriend from the dozens who have asked her out at school. She loves _everybody_ , and every girl and boy who goes out with her adores her, including the daughter of one of the Majesdanian ambassadors to Earth, and somehow Dori Dean stays friends with every single one.

 

(Karolina has said more than once that if Earth and Majesdane ever become allies, it'll be because the majority of the two planets have fallen in love with her youngest daughter. Nico secretly thinks her wife is right.)

 

Gloriana is there, just down from Lenore. She and Persephone have moved into the house where Nico grew up, and seeing how Persephone and Gloriana have made the house their own has helped Nico deal with the harder memories she earned there. Nico still cries when she walks into Amy's old room, which she always does when she comes over, but she gets past it quicker than she used to, and Karolina's always there to keep her company while she spends a few minutes casting a blessing for Amy's spirit. Amy's spirit still hasn't spoken to them, and Persephone hopes that's a good thing, that it means the aunt she never had a chance to meet is truly at peace. And Amy lives on in video clips and pictures, and stories told by Nico and Karolina and Alex, and even though Persephone never truly got to meet her, she at least feels like she got to know her aunt in a way.

 

Her mothers are there at the induction ceremony, of course, and while it's strange seeing Nico wearing the scarlet Cloak of Levitation and golden Eye of Agamotto that Persephone still associates with Doctor Strange, she's finally getting used to the idea of her mama being this dimension's Sorcerer Supreme.

 

Her mama swears it's only temporary, and that she and Karolina are going to find Stephen Strange wherever it is he's gone, but Persephone thinks the universe is in pretty good hands for now.

 

After all, her moms did a really fucking good job of raising her, despite all the insanity of their lives.

 

As she floats to the podium on the small stage that's been set up in Times Square for the ceremony, she looks out at the thousands who've made a point to be here for this ceremony. There are shields for both Captain Americas and stars for one just-plain-America, there are Spider-Man and Iron Man masks, there are giant green Hulk fists and blue-and-silver RESCUE helmets, there are Falcon wings and foam Mjolnir and Stormbreaker hammers, there are Scarlet Witch capes and red Vision faces and plastic purple bows for both Hawkeyes, and of course there are red, blue and gold eight-pointed stars for Captain Marvel, but scattered among all the symbols of all the Avengers present and past, there are a few wearing shirts and hoodies and caps that are indigo and dark blue, speckled with silver and gold and pink stars. There aren't many of them, but they're there, and Persephone feels her heart swell to know that for at least a few boys and girls and women and men, she's what they think of when they hear the word _hero_.

 

It's an enormous responsibility to be that kind of an example as she looks out at the cheering crowd, but she'd be the first to say that she had help getting here, to becoming the woman and the hero she is today.

 

She takes a deep breath, wipes at her eyes and smiles as she looks forward, at the gathered crowd and the clustered television cameras, and speaks. She knows exactly what she wants to say, because there was only ever one way this speech could have gone.

 

“I'd like to thank my moms...”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, that was a lot. I got surprisingly emotional writing the end of this chapter. It'd really be a great place to end the whole story, but I still have two acts to go in this play before the curtain closes. Thank you for reading!


	9. Taking a Moment

_I sit by and watch the river flow_

_I sit by and watch the traffic go_

_Imagine something of your very own_

_Something you can have and hold_

_I'd build a road in gold_

_Just to have some dreaming_

 

\--Blondie, “Dreaming”

  

—O—

—O—

 

“ _VACATION!”_

 

The happy squeal so close to her head made Nico reflexively bury her face deeper into her pillow, until said pillow was abruptly snatched away from beneath her head.

 

“Well, that was rude,” Nico mumbled, her cheek now lying on the soft sheet of her and Karolina's bed.

 

“So's being a grump, but I still love my grumpy little princess!”

 

Nico's left eye opened, revealing a brown eye that locked in on a smiling Karolina, wearing only a short nightshirt that didn't conceal much at her current position, kneeling directly in front of Nico's face, her knees spread slightly apart. “Nice view,” the dark-haired woman said, her voice brightening noticeably.

 

“Thanks,” replied the grinning blonde. “It's yours, you know.”

 

“Mmmm,” Nico hummed, reaching out to lay her hand on Karolina's bare thigh. “This morning's getting better.”

 

“AND we get to go on vacation!”

 

“Can we just stay here and fuck?”

 

“We can stay here and fuck for a little bit, then we need to go check in at the resort.”

 

From her prone position, Nico managed to shrug her shoulders. “I'll take what I can get.”

 

—O—

 

The morning sex (which was still great despite not being as frequent as in the first few years of their relationship, thanks to raising kids and life in general) was followed by a long, relaxing shower, during which Karolina had to repeatedly fend Nico's hands off as they tried to get clean.

 

Chase had installed a hood over their shower that took the steam and vented it through the ductwork that he had reworked through the Hostel over the decades. Now instead of fogging up the mirror when she or Karolina took a shower, the heated, moisture-laden air from their shower was channeled elsewhere through the complex, to the hydroponic gardens Gert had built.

 

“What is _with_ you today?” asked Karolina, laughing through her words as she lightly pushed Nico's hands away again. “It's like trying to shower with a grabby octupus!”

 

“Hey, it's not my fault you're so hot!” replied Nico, wrapping her arms around Karolina's waist and pressing her face into the relatively dry spot of Karolina's back as the two of them faced the shower's spray.

 

“We're _old_ , Nico!” Karolina replied, still smiling. She reached up and covered Nico's forearm with her right hand. “We're grandmas now. Things pop and crack when we go up stairs.”

 

“We're just forty-five,” replied the smaller woman. “And we're both still amazing.”

 

Karolina closed her eyes, enjoying the familiar sensation of Nico behind her, holding Karolina protectively. “I guess we still are,” she admitted. “Are you looking forward to this vacation?”

 

“Florida. Sun. Beach. Yeah, that sounds like my idea of paradise. Can we maybe do a singalong—”

 

The smack of a wet body scrubbie against her lips is soft, but it still gets a few suds in her mouth, so Nico has to sputter and spit a bit, while Karolina cackles with glee at her wife's flustered expression, at least until Nico looks up and grabs the scrubbie, trying to wrench it out of Karolina's hands without success.

 

“You and your dumb strength,” Nico grumbles without any true bite to her words as she's unable to pry the orange knit scrubbie out of her wife's hands, and Karolina's in heaven as she and Nico wrestle nakedly in the shower. They're in their mid-forties and they're grandmas and they still have fun and play with each other. How could it get better than that?

 

—O—

 

After the shower and cleaning up all the water that splashed onto the floor, the two of them finished getting ready. They were going down to the resort first, taking a day to themselves before their daughters and their families arrived tomorrow.

 

Nico elected to go a bit light today, wearing a thin black sleeveless button-up top, short black shorts (not leather, surprisingly), black knee-high stockings and black leather ankle boots; she had her inky hair done up into twin pigtails that were then looped and pinned up.

 

Karolina decided Nico had a good idea with her look, so she was wearing a pair of white shorts cut to show off her ass without being trashy, a pink camisole top, a light short-sleeved white top that she left unbuttoned over the camisole and a russet-colored pair of leather sandals, showing off her toenails, painted Nico's favorite shade of glossy black. (Nico also had favorite shades for matte black and ultrablack, because why have just one favorite, and Karolina mixed Nico's favorites in with the bright colors she also loved.)

 

Nico took an appreciative look at Karolina's ass as the blonde walked past her in their bedroom, strutting a bit. “Those are _not_ grandma shorts,” said the witch.

 

Karolina looked over her shoulder and grinned. “No, they're not. And you love them.”

 

Nico's smile nearly matched her own. “Yeah, I totally do.”

 

Karolina turned and walked toward her wife this time, not stopping until her arms were draped over Nico's shoulders and she was looking down at her wife of twenty-seven years. She gazed into those deep brown eyes and smiled. “I love that you still check me out,” she admitted. “It makes me feel desired.”

 

Nico smiled up, her lips colored a dark red that was nearly black. “That's because I _do_ still desire you, goober,” she said playfully, getting another bright grin from the blonde. “I mean, when you wear shorts like _that_ , everybody's gonna want you.”

 

Karolina leaned her head down until their foreheads were touching and their noses were a whisper apart. “Well, they can't have me,” she soft softly. “Only you.”

 

Nico's voice dropped a register as she slowly replied, “Good, because I'll already be smacking enough bitches and bros away from you without you actively baiting them.”

 

“I love it when you get all possessive over me,” Karolina whispered, still smiling.

 

Nico's face turned serious as she stared into Karolina's blue eyes. “Thank you for not playing games with our love,” she said, her voice suddenly emotional. “I don't tell you that enough, Kar. Thank you for not leading others on, or trying to make me jealous, or playing stupid games with our relationship. You've _never_ done any shit like that, and I really, really appreciate you for it.”

 

“Well, that was unexpected but very sweet,” said the happy blonde. “I can say the same thing about you, you know. You've never played games with me emotionally. We've had some difficult times, and we've had our disagreements and our fights, but we got through them because we always respected each other and because we each listened to what the other had to say.”

 

Nico nodded and put her forehead against Karolina's chest, trying not to get makeup on her shirts as she let herself draw some comfort from Karolina's arms around her.

 

Karolina was confused briefly before she realized what was going on. “Oh, sweetie, you're nervous,” she said soothingly. “Aren't you?”

 

“Yeah, a little,” replied Nico. “Which is dumb, I know.”

 

“It's not dumb. Not at all. We're still adjusting.”

 

“We just kept our real names and identities secret for so long, and now that all that's out there after what happened with Dori and Jhil, it's...” Her voice trailed off, as her mind threatened to dip into a spiral of worry and unpleasant thoughts again.

 

“It'll be okay, hon. I promise. This place is already private, it's got limited road access, they deal with celebrities frequently and they keep things quiet, calm and grounded. It's a Five-Diamond resort. They're professionals.”

 

“You're right.”

 

“And...”

 

Nico smiled. “ _And_ I'll set up some wards when we get there to protect the place. Maybe call some elementals to keep watch on things.”

 

“Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of, ' _And_ you'll let yourself relax.'”

 

“All three of our kids are going to be there tomorrow, with their families. It'd be the perfect time for someone who had it in for you or me to try to hit us.”

 

“Which is why we've kept this as quiet as possible. We haven't even told the rest of the family where we're going, which Gert will _not_ shut up about.”

 

“She's just nervous about Ada going off to college. She was having a mini-meltdown the other day. Took Chase and me both to talk her down before she booked a flight to Seattle to check on her. It's only been a fucking week since the kid's classes started.”

 

Karolina smiled as she ran her fingertips down Nico's back, eliciting a shiver she could feel through the thin fabric of her wife's shirt. “God, I remember those days. I seem to recall we had our own share of being the panicked parents right after Pers and Glory moved out.”

 

Nico laughed against Karolina's chest. “No shit. But we survived, and Gert and Chase will too.”

 

Karolina looked around the room, taking in the spacious bedroom that they had claimed as their own nearly thirty years ago. “Are we taking our suitcases with us?”

 

“Nah, we can get them later. I want to fly in with you the first time we see the place. Get the full romantic experience.”

 

“I'd like that,” said Karolina, smiling brightly. “You ready, then?”

 

“Got my financial weapons,” replied Nico, holding up the slim black wallet that held her driver's license, her Avengers ID card, her bank card, her credit card and two fifty-dollar bills (because it was always a good idea to be prepared). Not only was the wallet RFID-shielded, it was also enchanted to bite the fingers of anyone other than Nico or Karolina who tried to open it, then fly away.

 

“And you told the bank that you were going to be spending some money today?”

 

Nico sighed. “Yes, Kar, I told them they needed to up my daily limit for today, and that we were going to Florida for a week, so they wouldn't assume the charges were fraudulent.”

 

“Good girl,” Karolina said, kissing the top of Nico's head between the braids looped along the sides of the small witch's head. “Watching you get pissed off at the bank is never fun.”

 

“I can believe that.”

 

“Especially that last time.”

 

Nico sighed. “Which I apologized for, remember?”

 

“Threatening to make their building sink to the fourth level of hell was a bit much, hon.”

 

“Why? It was the correct level.”

 

Karolina smiled as she shook her head. “Nico...”

 

“I checked and everything!”

 

Karolina smiled and placed her hands on Nico's head, staring down into her lover's mahogany eyes proudly. “As much work as still needs to be done on income inequality in this country, consigning banks to hell probably isn't the most efficient way of going about it.”

 

“We could try it and see. 'Too big to fail.' Fuck that.”

 

“Wherever Gert is right now, I'm sure she's proud of you.”

 

“They were checking on Janet this morning. Her health isn't what it used to be, and she keeps pushing herself.”

 

Karolina hummed thoughtfully. “Well, she has a lot to try to make up for, in her mind. Mom's the same way.”

 

“At least they're trying,” Nico replied, stepping forward a bit and turning her head to the side, one of their subtle signals they both of them knew by heart now. Karolina gently shifted her arms to gather Nico to her chest, holding her raven-haired wife securely as the left side of Nico's head pressed against Karolina's chest.

 

“They can't ever make up for killing innocent kids, and they know that,” said Karolina quietly. “Mom never talks about it, but I can tell it still haunts her. And it should.”

 

Nico hummed an affirmation; she didn't want to nod and take a chance on smearing her makeup on Karolina's pink camisole. “Please don't ever let me become my mother,” she murmured softly.

 

Karolina bent her head forward and placed a kiss on Nico's hair. “You wouldn't,” she said confidently. “And I wouldn't let you, either.”

 

“Thanks,” Nico spoke quietly.

 

“You're welcome. I love you, you know?”

 

“Yeah, figured that one out. Thanks.”

 

“ _There's_ my little smart-ass. I love her so much.”

 

“She loves you too.”

 

“My angry little goth princess of the dark.”

 

“I'm never getting you to stop calling me a princess, am I?”

 

“Not a chance.”

 

“...Fine. You can call me your princess.”

 

Karolina gave Nico, still wrapped in her arms, a small squeeze. “I'm proud of you for accepting the inevitable.”

 

—O—

 

After leaving a note for Gert and Chase, making sure the baby dinosaurs had food and water, then a final sweep of the Hostel, Nico shifted her wallet and her phone into astral space along with the Staff of One. She attached the smaller objects to her astral form with a tether to keep them from drifting off; the Staff needed no such tethering, as it already knew to stay at its master's side. “Okay, are we finally ready?”

 

“I think so,” Karolina replied. She checked to make sure that she had her phone, drivers' license, Avengers ID and bank card in her waterproof vibranium phone case (another perk of being a member of the West Coast Avengers) before tucking the slim case into a back pocket. “I'm good, too. You portaling us there?”

 

“Walking through the Sanctum, I think,” replied Nico. “One of the big doors opens a gate just inside the Bermuda Triangle. That way we can fly in over the ocean. Avoid the crowds.”

 

The smile on Karolina's face was nearly glowing. “Ooh, that'll be beautiful! Good call, hon.”

 

“Got your sunglasses?” Nico asked, making sure that she had her own pair in a pocket.

 

Karolina smirked. “Not that I need them.”

 

“Yeah, well, not all of us can absorb the visible and ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum, Sassy.”

 

Karolina scooped Nico up into her arms before illuminating into pink and purple light. “I think it's adorable, that you take care of me,” she said warmly.

 

“I love you, you know?” Nico replied, her voice softer than normal as she loosely draped her arms around Karolina's neck and stared up into the blonde's luminous pink face. She loved the color pink now, but Karolina was the only one she'd ever tell. “I want to keep you around.”

 

Karolina lifted Nico closer to her face, lightly kissing her forehead so as not to muss either of their lips. She murmured, “The feeling's completely mutual, my sweet princess of gloom and darkness.”

 

Nico closed her eyes and simulated a swoon in Karolina's arms. “I love it when you talk sexy to me.”

 

Karolina's head leaned in closer to Nico's limp body. “Let's go get this vacation started.”

 

Nico's head shot up to press a kiss to Karolina's cheek, leaving a little dark smudge on her wife's skin. “Okay,” she said, grinning.

 

“Rat,” Karolina said slyly.

 

“Your rat,” replied Nico. “And now you have the lipstick mark to prove it.”

 

Now the look Karolina gave Nico was decidedly more than friendly. “You can put lipstick marks all over me once we get in the room,” she said, her voice low and sultry.

 

“Mmm, then we should get going.”

 

Nico reached out and pressed the invisible rune that triggered the permanent gate from their bedroom to the Sanctum Sanctorum, physically located in New York City; Karolina had already flown them over to its position while they were teasing each other. As soon as the purple runic circle had enlarged to allow them to fly through it, Karolina floated them through it, her feet hovering centimeters off the bedroom floor.

 

Nico was still serving as Sorcerer Supreme, much to her growing annoyance. She and Karolina had indeed found and rescued Stephen Strange, but years of captivity at the hands of Mephisto had left him scarred physically and emotionally, and though he was slowly making progress with his recovery at Kamar Taj, it was unclear if he'd ever be able to return to his previous position.

 

As the two women crossed the threshold into what had become their second home, they heard a frenetic fluttering, their only warning before the scarlet Cloak of Levitation engulfed both of them and wrapped them in a tight embrace.

 

“Yes, Red, we're happy to see you too,” Nico said into the Cloak's soft, sheer fabric. “We're just passing through right now. Going on vacation with the girls and their kids.”

 

Karolina closed her eyes and rubbed her face into the Cloak's softness. “We'll bring them by so you can see them soon. Dori and Nor both have their new babies with them, too. Dori's was just born a few weeks ago, Nor's just last week.”

 

The Cloak fluttered, its upturned lapels angling in an expression of curiosity.

 

“We'll stop back by soon, Red, we promise,” said Nico. “But it's hot as fuck in Florida and we really want to keep a low profile on this trip if we can, so we need you to stick around here. But you know how to activate your personal portal to me if you need us, right?”

 

The Cloak nodded its lapels in reply.

 

“We'll pick you up a new scarf as a souvenir, okay?”

 

That got another eager nod and rustling of fabric.

 

Nico and Karolina weren't exactly sure what the Cloak of Levitation did with the scarfs they brought it, but it was always happy and appreciative for the bright, silky accessories. Ribbons were likewise acceptable gifts. Ties, however, it immediately shredded.

 

As they arrived at the portal chamber, three massive stone doorways faced them, each displaying a different scene.

 

“It's the middle one,” Nico said. Karolina drifted toward the middle of the three enormous portals, close enough for Nico to reach out and turn the glowing dial beside the large doorway. A few turns succeeded in finding the tableau of green ocean waves and an overcast sky she was seeking. “There we go.”

 

The Cloak wrapped around them again, squeezing lightly and holding the embrace for a few seconds.

 

“Aw, we'll check on you in a day or two, we promise,” Karolina said.

 

Nico patted the soft cloth of the Cloak. “We love you too, Red. See you in a few days.”

 

The Cloak disentangled itself from the two women, using a corner of its length to wave at them as they floated through the large portal.

 

The distinct scent of the Sanctum, a mixture of damp stone and lilacs, was instantly replaced by the salty, briny smell of the sea as they appeared out of nothing, hovering meters above the surface of the dark green waves. Heat and humidity greedily swallowed them as they hovered in place for a minute, letting Nico's phone, a prototype of the next Wizard model that had been augmented with some careful enchanting, sync up with the global positioning system satellites. Karolina took advantage of the brief wait by planting soft kisses all over her wife's jet-black hair.

 

Freed by the privacy of their current position, Nico laughed and smiled at Karolina's affection, finally granting her wife a warm, long kiss as they waited. When they pulled their lips apart, warm brown eyes stared into bright blue for several charged seconds as they enjoyed the private moment together.

 

“I love you, Kar,” Nico said tenderly. “I'd marry you all over again.”

 

“Aw,” replied the blonde. “I'd say yes to you all over again, too.”

 

Nico kissed Karolina's nose, then she settled back down into her wife's arms to check her phone once more. “Oh, it's synced,” she said, pointing to Karolina's left. “That way, Ms. Dean,” she said as she slid her round-lensed sunglasses onto her face, after which Karolina shot into motion.

 

Despite the years of flying both in Karolina's arms and on her own, Nico still loved the thrill of watching the ground or sea blur beneath her feet when she flew with Karolina. Currently they were approximately a meter or two above the burnished green-blue of the ocean, flying at just under the speed of sound as Nico occasionally offered course adjustments and more frequently kissed her wife's glowing face and neck.

 

Shielded by a projection of Karolina's energy field, Nico called the resort while they were flying, informing the staff that they were less than fifteen minutes out. The reservations agent who had taken the substantial deposit for the suites months ago had asked them to phone ahead so that the manager on duty could greet them and show them around the resort once they arrived, so Nico wanted to be polite and do so. Once that had been accomplished, Nico put her phone up and reveled in the beauty of the early morning, the smell of the sea and the warmth of Karolina holding her.

 

“Are we getting close?” Karolina asked after another ten minutes of high-speed flight.

 

“Did you just ask me if we were almost there yet?” replied Nico, a laugh in her voice.

 

“I could go low enough to drag your ass across the wave tops, you know.”

 

Nico grinned. “Yes, we're almost there.”

 

“Oh, nice.”

 

“So will you please not drag my ass across the wave tops? I like these shorts.”

 

Karolina fought to keep her smile from being _too_ big. “I'll be merciful today, I suppose.”

 

“Okay, turn left in about five seconds.”

 

Karolina counted down, then sharply banked to her left, getting a cheerful _whoo_ from Nico at the sudden turn as it dipped her head down toward the ocean momentarily.

 

“Okay, you've got us flying straight at it. It'll be the first thing we see on the coast.”

 

“Okay,” Karolina said, focusing her eyes ahead. She felt a tingle of magic caress her skin, the warmth and sensation of comfort telling her it was Nico's magic and no one else's. She looked down at her wife. “Invisibility?”

 

Nico nodded. “I'm still not entirely comfortable with our identities being public.”

 

Karolina smiled, a bit wistfully. “Same here. I know it's a different world than it was when we were teenagers, but I guess we'll always worry to some degree.”

 

“Yeah, we _were_ kind of running for our lives for a while back then. Our kids—and I mean all of the Runaways' kids, not just ours—don't know how good they have it. To them, PRIDE's only ever been a charity that focuses on helping children, immigrants, the homeless and the disenfranchised.”

 

“We did that,” Karolina said, placing a light kiss on Nico's temple. “We really did turn the evil that our parents had done into something good. We—“ Karolina stopped short as she gasped softly.

 

“What?” Nico asked, continuing to look at Karolina. She knew her wife's noises intimately by now; Karolina had seen something that surprised her but not concerned her, judging from the smile on the blonde's face.

 

“Oh my god, Nico,” Karolina said a bit breathlessly. “It's beautiful!”

 

As they approached the Ponte Vedra Inn and Club, Karolina and Nico saw a pristine beach with sand so pale as to nearly be white. Spaced along the long stretch of shoreline, buildings of different shapes and sizes rose out of the pale sand, all similarly styled and made of oatmeal-colored stucco that nearly matched the sand, topped with roofs of ochre Spanish tile. Beyond the numerous buildings that housed the guest rooms, a large array of over a dozen dark green tennis courts sprawled beside the main building that housed the spa, restaurants, lobby and meeting areas. The neatly manicured stretches of green grass and wetland trees and plants that made up the resort's golf courses stretched out behind and beyond the resort's main building, finally yielding to a small inlet and bay that separated the resort's peninsula from the mainland of the small city of Ponte Vedra.

 

“Fuck, Kar, this really _is_ pretty,” Nico admitted as Karolina swooped in, rising a bit higher before hovering for a moment to take in the view. There were some people on the beach below them, but it was far from crowded, with wide stretches of beach containing only a few dots of color from clothing, towels and umbrellas as beachgoers enjoyed the sun and surf.

 

After admiring the view of the resort for a few seconds, Karolina dropped into an abrupt descent, getting a surprised squeak from Nico as her wife clutched her arms a bit more tightly around the blonde's neck. Nico held her tongue to keep from saying anything else, because she knew Karolina would likely repeat the trick if she griped about it.

 

Nico waited until they were on the ground again and Karolina's glow had ceased before she dropped the invisibility spell just outside the main building; no one was around, so they simply walked into the large lobby, elegantly decorated with marble floors and pillars and a large spiraling staircase that wound around the open central section. She lifted her round sunglasses, sliding them back atop her head as they stepped in out of the bright sun.

 

“Wow, I feel underdressed,” Karolina murmured as she held onto Nico's right arm as the two of them looked around.

 

“You're not changing those shorts,” Nico said quickly, freeing her right arm and placing her right hand possessively in Karolina's right rear pocket, getting a pleased smile from the blonde in return.

  

(Karolina was certainly her own person, but she still loved it when Nico made a demonstrable claim on her, and Nico knew it.)

 

“May I help you?” said a young woman in a maroon and beige uniform, sitting at a reception counter.

 

“Yeah, we're checking in,” Nico said, turning and walking with Karolina toward the woman. “Nico and Karolina Dean. We've got several suites reserved. The manager's supposed to meet us.”

 

A smartly dressed woman in a dark blazer and matching slacks appeared behind the marble counter so quickly that Karolina briefly wondered if Nico had conjured her.

 

“Mrs. and Mrs. Dean!” said the woman, who appeared to be in her mid-thirties, with dark hair and cappaccino skin. “I'm Victoria Ruiz, the manager on duty. We've all been looking forward to meeting you!”

 

“I'm Nico,” said the jet-haired woman, shaking the woman's hand.

 

“And I'm Karolina,” added the blonde, repeating the same motion. “It's just going to be us today. Our girls and their families won't be here until late tonight or early tomorrow.”

 

Victoria smiled. “Well, we have all four suites ready, the Presidential Suite for the two of you and three Oceanfront Suites for everyone else. You're all just a minute's walk apart on the beach.”

 

“This is an absolutely _lovely_ resort,” Karolina said eagerly.

 

“We certainly think so!” said Victoria. “Our whole staff takes great pride in providing our guests the best service and best experience possible.”

 

“It seems quiet and relaxing,” Nico said. “I'm afraid it won't stay that way after our kids show up with _their_ kids.”

 

“Hon,” Karolina said, gently squeezing Nico's arm. “Let's not assume the worst, okay? We're going to have a good vacation. This place has lots of activities for the little bits to enjoy, even at their ages, remember?”

 

“Let me just finish the check-in process for you, and then I'll take you ladies to your suite,” said Victoria, moving to one of the computer terminals at the reception desk.

 

Nico followed the woman, who was neatly between her and Karolina in terms of height, with Karolina trailing behind, holding onto Nico's hand as it stretched out behind the smaller woman. The blonde drifted back a bit, taking in the décor and the layout of the main building while letting Nico handle the check-in duties.

 

“Is it a special occasion, other than a family vacation?” asked Victoria, clicking away at the keyboard before she looked back up at Nico.

 

“Actually, it is,” Nico said very quietly, seeing that Karolina was still lingering behind her, looking around at the lobby.

 

“Then would you let us treat the two of you to dinner tonight?”

 

Nico found herself smiling. “That sounds great, thanks.”

 

“Looks like you've already paid forty percent as a deposit,” Victoria said. “That leaves a balance due of... fifteen-thousand-four-hundred-and-forty-eight dollars. That covers all the suites plus resort taxes and fees for the next seven days.” To the woman's credit, she managed to not obviously react as she read the balance due.

 

“What are we talking about?” asked Karolina, smiling as she slid beside Nico at the marble reception counter.

 

“They're treating us for dinner tonight,” Nico said as she opened her small wallet, retrieving her credit card and sliding it across the cool, dark stone surface to Victoria. She and Karolina didn't touch much of the money that they had saved over the years from their shares of Wizard, other than using the majority of it to endow scholarships at several colleges and community colleges, but it was admittedly nice to have purchasing power when they needed it.

 

“Are we getting dressed up?!” asked Karolina, suddenly grinning.

 

Nico turned to look at her wife, and as she took in that eager face, she felt herself falling in love with the happy, beaming blonde all over again. “ _Absolutely_ we're getting dressed up, but I'm not telling you why.”

 

Karolina's eyebrows rose. “Ooh, a surprise!” she said happily.

 

Nico continued to look up at Karolina's happy face and be amazed that such an incredible woman could actually be her wife. After forty-six years, there were a few hints of lines forming around the corners of Karolina's bright blue eyes and on her forehead, but they did nothing to detract from Karolina's beauty or Nico's adoration for her wife. “Today's for us, Kar, just for you and me,” she said softly, smiling as the blonde bent down to meet Nico's lips with her own.

 

Victoria quietly watched the two women kiss in front of her as she waited patiently. The credit card transaction still needed a PIN to authorize it, but she wasn't going to rush the two of them. She had already done her checking on Nico Dean when the woman had made the reservations over the telephone and electronically paid the deposit for this stay nearly a year ago, and Victoria was quite confident that the publicity-shy majority owners of the tech giant Wizard would be good for the remaining balance on the rooms. (The fact that she herself carried a much-loved Wizard A14 phone in her jacket had nothing to do with her decision, of course.)

 

“Let's get this bill paid, so I can take you to our room, Mrs. Dean,” Karolina said, smiling down as she held Nico, her arms crossed behind Nico's waist.

 

Nico closed her eyes and let her head tip back slightly, smiling. “Mmmm, I still love hearing you call me that.”

 

Karolina took advantage of Nico's head position by bending down and kissing her wife's exposed neck. “We did pretty good for two scared homeless kids running for our lives, huh?” she said, pulling her head back so Nico could lift her head and look up at her wife again.

 

(Victoria surreptitiously looked up from the computer interface. She hadn't read _that_ bit of history about the Deans.)

 

“And having a baby while we were still teenagers. And being high school dropouts,” Nico added, smiling.

 

“How the heck did we make it, Nico?”

 

“We had each other,” said the shorter woman, who took Karolina's hands off her hips to hold them in her own hands instead. “And we had the rest of our family. Our _real_ family, counting Amy.”

 

“And now our kids are having their own kids. Alex and Livvie will be joining us in the Grandma Club in the next month or two.”

 

“Are we changing the name to the Grandparents Club?”

 

“Nope,” Karolina said, smiling slightly. “Alex gets called a grandma too.”

 

“Aw, my baby's still jealous about that time he got to kiss me and see me in my bra, because it was the only way I could think of to keep my mom from killing us.”

 

Karolina's smile suddenly went flat. “You didn't tell me he got to see you in your bra,” she said, her voice tight. “You just said you had to kiss him like you had been making out.”

 

Nico's mouth opened slightly before Karolina grinned and laughed.

 

“You told me all about it, hon. I was just teasing you. I got over that a long, long time ago, because _I_ got _you_.”

 

“You little shit,” Nico swore softly, grinning. “Got me with that one.”

 

“Plus, having been on the receiving end of some of your mom's bullshit, I totally understand why you did what you did. She was terrifying when we were kids.” Karolina thought for a few seconds before adding, “Actually, she was terrifying regardless of how old we were.”

 

They paused for a moment, smiling as they lost themselves in each other's eyes, until Nico remembered they hadn't paid yet. “Shit, I'm sorry!” she said, turning to Victoria and reservedly releasing Karolina's hands. The blonde responded by sliding the fingers of her left hand up the back of Nico's shirt, resting them in the small of her wife's back as they stood. “You've been so patient, while we were zoned out being all lovey.”

 

“You two seem very much in love,” Victoria said, sliding the card reader toward Nico, who retrieved her credit card from where it lay on the counter and inserted it into the reader.

 

“Yeah, we are,” Nico said, not caring that it sounded sappy as she verified the amount and consciously made herself not wince at the number of digits displayed on the screen.

 

“Very, very happy,” Karolina added in agreement, shifting her position to lean her head against Nico's. “I have a great wife.”

 

“Mine's better,” Nico replied, looking to her right and up at the blonde after typing in her PIN for the card reader.

 

“I don't know about that,” Karolina teased, sounding unconvinced. “My wife's pretty cute.”

 

A computer printer whirred to life beneath the reception counter; seconds later, Victoria handed Nico a receipt for her payment of the balance of the reservation. As she did so, she glanced down at the slim black wallet, which Nico had left open on the counter, and her eyes fell directly on the Avengers photo ID displayed in the clear window displayed inside the wallet.

 

“Oh,” she said softly, suddenly experiencing a surge in heart rate as she tried to control her reaction as the unexpected sight.

 

_Was that real? It had to be a souvenir, right? From Universal Studios maybe?_

 

“Everything okay?” Nico asked, noticing the younger woman's stricken expression.

 

Ever polite, even under duress, Victoria hesitantly pointed toward the silver _A_ logo displayed above Nico's picture on the ID card. “That's... a souvenir, right?” she asked softly.

 

She looked up and met Nico's dark brown eyes, which had suddenly turned serious.

 

“No,” Nico said, slowly and solemnly. “It's not a souvenir.”

 

Karolina spotted Nico's open wallet and realized what had shaken the manager; she looked around before returning her attention to Victoria. “We're reserve members,” she said quietly. “And we're not used to people knowing that we're, you know...”

 

Victoria felt her mind whirling madly as she tried to piece together this new, surreal piece of information with what she had seen over the last few minutes.

 

“I'm Starlight,” Karolina said, her voice just above a whisper. “Nico's Sister Grimm. Twilight, Eclipse and Daylight are our daughters.”

 

“Oh my god,” Victoria said slowly. “You two are real-life heroes. You've _literally_ saved the world.”

 

“We're just two women on vacation this week,” Nico said calmly. “Who are still trying to adjust to our youngest daughter indirectly outing all of us two weeks ago. You've probably seen the video clips by now.” Before Karolina could interject, Nico added, “She _did_ have a good reason, and we're proud of her for standing up for what's right, saving her family and likely preventing a war.”

 

“We just... don't really know what to expect,” Karolina admitted. “But there might be some positives, too. We hope.”

 

“ _You_ hope,” Nico grumbled. “I worry.”

 

Karolina put her arm around Nico's waist; instinctively, the shorter woman leaned into the comfort of Karolina's embrace.

 

“We'll keep things as quiet as you'd like,” Victoria said. “Privacy is part of the ambience here.”

 

“After you show us to our suite, would you mind if I put up a few protection wards?” Nico asked. “I'd do it under an invisibility spell, and I'd make the wards invisible too, so I don't make anyone panic. I'd just like to do what I could to help protect the other guests and your staff and property, because us being here brings a degree of risk with it, especially right now.”

 

“I'd appreciate that greatly. Anything you can do to help protect my staff and our guests is always welcome.”

 

Nico folded the printed receipt lengthwise, then she picked up her credit card and slid it back into her wallet before closing and picking up the slim black case. “Alright, Victoria,” she said, her expression back to its usual look of indifference. “Impress us with your resort.”

 

—O—

 

Fifty minutes later, Nico was standing on the patio of the Presidential Suite, watching the waves of the Atlantic Ocean break and rush onto the nearly white sand of the lightly-populated beach. Karolina's arms were wrapped around the smaller woman's torso, and the blonde had her nose and mouth buried in Nico's soft ebony hair while her blue eyes watched the swelling surf as it sparkled with sunlight.

 

“You're the perfect height for me to hug you and still be able to see over your head,” Karolina said, her voice slightly muffled against Nico's hair. “So convenient.”

 

“At least you can watch my back when we hug,” Nico replied. “So that's one good thing about me being short.”

 

“You're the perfect height,” said Karolina. “I love you just like you are.”

 

“That makes one of us. You can reach shit on the top shelves.”

 

“There are some upsides to your height.”

 

“Yeah? Name one.”

 

“It makes easier to carry you in my arms.”

 

“...Well, how the fuck am I supposed to argue with that?”

 

Karolina smiled triumphantly, though Nico couldn't see it. “You can't. So there.”

 

“Okay, name something else that's a positive.”

 

“You're closer to certain parts of my anatomy.”

 

“...Maybe I should stop complaining about being short.”

 

“And you won't hit your head on low-hanging lights or pipes.”

 

“Okay, that's enough. You're right. Of course.”

 

“Of course.”

 

The two of them both smiled as they relaxed again, watching the sun patiently descend toward the horizon for several minutes as they enjoyed the music of the comfortable rumbling of the waves.

 

“Fuck,” Nico swore softly. “I just realized something.”

 

A puzzled expression crossed Karolina's face briefly. “What is it, hon?” Karolina asked, her voice muffled by Nico's hair.

 

“She did impress me. With the resort.”

 

Karolina laughed aloud. “You can tell her that tomorrow when she brings her kids to meet us.”

 

“Why the fuck did I offer to do that?” Nico groaned.

 

“Because, despite _always_ being my angry dark princess, you're a sweet person and you're a mom, just like Victoria. You appreciated her being so good to us, and you offered to do something nice for her and her kids. And that kindness is just one of the many things I love about you.” She pressed a kiss to Nico's left temple as she finished, and her lips could feel the muscles slide beneath Nico's skin as the smaller woman smiled in response. “You may have darkness within you, sweetheart, but you're still one-hundred-percent adorable.”

 

Nico sighed. “I prefer terrifying. Unsettling, at the very least.”

 

Karolina didn't reply. She just happily kept holding her terrifying, unsettling, adorable wife.

 

—O—

 

They spent an hour on the beach, running in and out of the Atlantic before sitting at the water's edge, letting the saline surf wash over them as they talked, kissed and laughed. When they grew tired of the ocean, they returned to the enormous suite to take a nap, curled up together on the king bed. Nico was wearing a fluffy white robe she had put on after their quick shower to get the salty ocean off them and their swimsuits, while Karolina was only wearing Nico, the smaller woman's arms and legs wrapped around the taller blonde as they snoozed.

 

When they woke up, they made love in the large, plush bed, then lay tangled together in a haze of blissful nonchalance for another half an hour. The sheer luxury of having nowhere to go and nothing to do was unusual, and they reveled in it. Lunch was light, a small sandwich and salad in the small bistro inside the main building, followed by a walk around the property. Neither of them knew how to play tennis, but that didn't stop them from renting racquets and swatting at tennis balls for nearly an hour, laughing with delight at how terrible they were.

 

As afternoon started to yield to evening, they walked back to their suite, took another shower to remove sweat and grime (and clay, after Karolina slipped and fell on the tennis court), then went about preparing for their dinner at the Seafoam Room, a small but elegant formal dining room inside the Inn's sister property, called the Lodge and Club.

 

“I need to go back to the house real quick to get a formal dress,” Karolina said. She was reaching to activate the portal enchantment in her necklace when Nico gently put her open hand in the way of Karolina's arm, blocking the motion without grabbing her wife.

 

“I have it covered,” Nico said, and from the smug look on the dark-haired woman's face, something was _definitely_ in the works here.

 

“Oh, do you, now?” asked Karolina, intrigued.

 

“I do.”

 

“Does this have to do with what you briefly mentioned earlier, to Victoria? About something special?”

 

“I didn't think you heard that.”

 

Karolina leaned closer to Nico, pausing for effect before solemnly whispering, “I... hear... _everything_.”

 

“Stop it,” Nico said, trying not to laugh. Karolina was fully bent over laughing while still looking up at Nico, her hands clasped together between her knees; after a few seconds, Karolina's laughing and the fun mood they were both in managed to overcame Nico's resolve. It took a good minute before their giggles subsided enough for them to talk properly again.

 

“I do remember what today is, you know,” Karolina finally said, a twinkle in her blue eyes as she took two steps closer, lightly pressing the side of her right hand beneath Nico's chin as the two of them looked into each other's eyes.

 

“Oh yeah?” Nico asked, a bit breathily. “Then what's today?”

 

Karolina smiled, then she leaned down and gently pressed her lips to Nico's. She felt her wife's fingers slide through her hair at the back of her head, then Nico was pulling her closer as they kissed more deeply for several seconds.

 

They finally, slowly pulled apart, mahogany and sapphire eyes alike bright with emotion as they stared happily at each other.

 

“Well, damn,” Nico said quietly, still smiling. “There goes my surprise. You _do_ remember what day it is.”

 

Karolina's lips curled a bit more. “The day we kissed for the first time, twenty-eight years ago. It was also the day I confessed what frightened me more anything in the world, what I had hidden and lied to myself over for years—that I was gay and in love with you.” She felt tears beginning to form at the corners of her eyes. “And it was the day that you made me realize that those two secrets I had kept hidden for so long, even from myself, weren't things to be scared of... but to be proud of.”

 

Nico lifted her hands to gently cup Karolina's cheeks. “I'm proud of you,” she said. “I'm proud of us. And tonight we're going to celebrate what came from those first two nervous kisses twenty-eight years ago.”

 

Nico removed her hands from Karolina's face, rising onto her tiptoes to plant a quick kiss on the blonde's lips before she turned to her left. She lifted her hands and opened a portal, angled so that to Karolina it looked like a flat purple line, glowing in the air.

 

Karolina watched quietly, not sure of what Nico was up to but sure she was up to something.

 

Nico's hands shifted, and the swirling violet light around them twisted and changed. Seconds later, a garment bag limned in the same violet light emerged from the portal and floated over to the unmade bed, where it settled itself.

 

“Don't tell me...” Karolina began, moving toward the bed. She looked up at Nico, who crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked so insufferably, adorably smug that Karolina wanted to tackle her and fuck her right there on the floor.

 

Nico breezily gestured toward the garment bag. “Take a look,” she said, the smirk not waning in the slightest.

 

Hands slightly shaking, Karolina unzipped the large black bag. “This better not be— _ohmigod_ , you DID find them!!” She whirled around, clutching the pink sequin midi dress she had been wearing the night of their first kiss. “NICO! I thought this was gone! How...”

 

“I found it when we rescued you.”

 

Karolina lunged toward Nico, throwing her arms around her wife and hugging her tightly, the dress still in Karolina's grasp as it dangled behind Nico's back. “ _That_ is incredibly romantic,” she said. “Was there a reason you waited until now to tell me?”

 

Nico looked up and shifted slightly in Karolina's embrace. “I hid it and kind of, um... lost it? At the Hostel?”

 

Karolina's grin faded slightly into a soft smile. “Well, that's not _as_ romantic. But at least you're honest.”

 

Nico pressed the side of her head into Karolina's chest. “I wanted to keep it a surprise from you, so I hid it while you were still unconscious, and then our lives just stayed so crazy that I didn't think to look for it for months, and by then I'd forgotten where I'd put it.”

 

Karolina held the dress up behind Nico's back, lifting it to where she could examine it. “Why did you get it? When you rescued me?”

 

“Because it was what you were wearing when we kissed for the first time. Duh. It was important to me, and I knew it'd be important to you.”

 

Karolina grinned again. “Thank you, you big softie,” she said quietly. “I love you.”

 

Nico smiled in her wife's embrace. “I love you, too.”

 

—O—

 

The Seafoam Room was tiny as far as restaurants went, holding no more than fifteen tables in all, but it felt like the perfect size to Karolina and Nico. There were a total of six other couples dining there, all dressed formally or semi-formally, but even with the restaurant's small size, Nico and Karolina barely noticed anyone else that evening.

 

The food was delicious, with Nico having grilled chicken and shrimp and Karolina vegan imitation crab cakes that were all heavenly, lush and delicious and bursting with flavor. The service was impeccable, and the atmosphere was the perfect blend of eventful but pleasant. They sat next to each other at their small table instead of facing each other, so they could both enjoy the view of the sea's steady ebb and flow as it caressed the shore, similar to what they would see in California while still being entirely different.

 

After the wonderful meal, the sun was setting as they walked along the beach to return to their room, a little less than a mile away from the Ponte Vedra Lodge and Club where the Seafoam Room was located. Nico had stuffed their shoes into the astral with their other items so their hands would be free during the easy stroll, and Karolina pulled her skirt up slightly to keep the hem of her dress from getting wet or sandy as they let their steps lead them in and out of the warm water of the waves washing up on the white sand.

 

They held hands as they walked, the moon starting to rise as the sun finally admitted defeat for the night. They didn't need words to communicate, not after knowing each other for over forty years and being a couple for nearly two-thirds of that time. Tonight, under the loving gaze of the moon, they silently spoke their love for each other through playful smiles and looks, gentle hugs and touches, the warmth of embraces, the surety of holding hands, the implicit promise expressed in lingering kisses and the devotion found in the depth of each other's eyes.

 

When they found themselves once more at the white and ochre buildings of the Inn, they slowed their pace and then stopped, Nico standing on slightly higher ground closer to the buildings and Karolina on slightly lower ground closer to the ocean. The light of the moon grew dim as clouds swept across the night sky, obscuring the stars and promising brief but likely intense rains in the near future.

 

“This has been a perfect date, and a perfect day,” Karolina said softly, her voice accompanied by the swell of the waves and the blowing of the ocean breeze as she turned her body to face Nico, still holding her wife's hand. “Thank you, for everything.”

 

Nico smiled, still having to look up slightly at her wife despite the (negligibly) higher ground she occupied. “Would you do it all over again?” she asked her own personal star, losing herself in that adoring face and those honest, earnest eyes like she had done for nearly thirty years.

 

Karolina's smile widened. “I'd do it sooner.” She closed the tiny distance between the two of them to press her lips against Nico's, loving the familiar sensation of her jet-haired wife eagerly pulling herself against Karolina's body.

 

—O—

 

Shouts and happy laughter outside their patio door woke Nico up earlier than she was used to rising, especially since they had woken up during the night to make love again. The sounds outside were muffled by the doors and walls of their suite, but _something_ out there had woken her up, and she wanted to focus on the sounds to see what it was that had told her sleeping brain that it needed to pay attention. However, it was hard to focus on anything other than the blonde woman in front of her.

 

Karolina was in her arms, Nico's face buried in the blonde hair that she loved; the smell, the feel, the softness of it was all Karolina, and she adored it. This was how it should be, the golden strands of hair brushing Nico's nose and lips as the shorter woman held her wife. And even though they should get up and do their morning exercise, Nico really didn't want to do anything other than snuggle with her wife for a bit longer.

 

But someone had been right outside the patio door to their suite, and she _probably_ should check into who it was. The fact that the wards hadn't activated indicated that whomever it was wasn't hostile, but still.

 

“Nico...” mumbled the mostly-asleep blonde in her arms. “It's early, hon. 'M tired still. It's vacation. An' you fucked my brains out last night.”

 

“Someone was outside on the patio,” Nico whispered into Karolina's hair.

 

“Mm. 'S probably Pers and Glory with the kids,” said Karolina, her voice mostly muffled as the tall blonde turned her head to bury her face a bit more into her pillow. “Their suite was right next t' ours, 'member?”

 

That was true, Nico remembered. Victoria had mentioned that during the tour yesterday. And Persy had said that they'd be arriving early in the morning, to make the most of the day.

 

Nico considered getting to see their two oldest grandchildren, whom they hadn't been able to see for nearly a month due to Persy and Gloriana taking their family to Majesdane for two weeks, followed by Nico and Karolina having to hop across multiple mystic dimensions in pursuit of a runaway demigod for an exhausting eleven days. Nico also considered the sleepy, adorable blonde woman in her arms, who was almost certainly going to sleep for another hour or two, because the sun hadn't fully come up yet.

 

She kissed the back of Karolina's head, smiling as she heard the happy sigh that crossed the blonde's lips, which were unfortunately facing away from her own at the moment. “I'm gonna go check on them real quick, see what they're doing,” she whispered.

 

“Nicooo,” Karolina softly moaned. “I'll get cold without you holding me.”

 

“You don't get cold in the vacuum of space, baby.”

 

“But I'll _miss you_.”

 

Nico had trouble resisting that little pout that sometimes crept into Karolina's voice, especially when her wife was sleepy. She shucked her nightshirt off, lifting it over her head and extricating her arms before she leaned over her wife. “Here,” she said softly, tucking the nightshirt in front of Karolina's face, between her head and her hands laid out in front of her on the pillow. “This'll keep you happy until I get back, then we can take a shower together.”

 

Karolina drowsily pulled the soft fabric that smelled like Nico to her nose and mouth, sniffing and smiling as she drifted back into slumber. “Love you,” mumbled the blonde.

 

Nico kissed Karolina's bare shoulder. “Love you too, baby.”

 

Nico carefully got out of the bed, now not wearing anything, tucking the sheet in behind Karolina's back once she was off the bed. She looked at the mirror on the wall facing the bed in the large bedroom of the suite they had reserved for the week, examining her nude body in the mirror for a few seconds.

 

She and Karolina were forty-five years old, hard as it was to believe, and while their lives hadn't always been easy, they had well and truly _lived_. Nico had a few visible scars now, a linear scar close to her heart that wasn't the best memory, a long scar on her left arm that ran across her tricep and bicep, smaller scars on her right hip and right forearm, but as she shifted and posed a bit in the mirror, she had to admit that she still looked pretty fucking hot, especially for a grandmother. There was the inevitable cellulite starting to creep in around her butt and posterior thighs, which she was particularly salty about, but she was still in excellent shape thanks to hard work in the form of martial arts and mostly regular exercise to maintain her flexibility and stamina (because not everyone was fortunate enough to have a second metabolism based on the absorption of visible and ultraviolet light, like _some_ people she knew).

 

“Still got a great ass...” mumbled a sleepy voice behind her.

 

Nico jumped and turned. Karolina had curled forward slightly, moving her pillow so that she was now facing somewhat down the bed, where she could see Nico posing. But the blonde's eyes were closed, and she looked like she had fallen asleep again, or never fully woke up.

 

Nico sighed softly but smiled. It was nice to know that Karolina still thought she was hot.

 

—O—

 

Nico very carefully opened the patio door, slipping out and closing it behind her before she turned around.

 

The humidity in the thick Florida air was as intense as the briny scent of the ocean, and the soft roaring of the waves breaking onto the white sand of the beach just steps away was soothing as Nico pulled the thin black dress over the dark red and black bikini she was wearing. She wasn't planning on getting in the ocean yet, not this early, but it was best to be prepared.

 

She would have been fine with just wearing a more modest swimsuit, but as long as Karolina insisted on wearing bikinis, Nico was going to try to keep up with her wife. Thankfully, they both were aging well. Unlike Jonah, Karolina was starting to show some signs of aging, just not many. (The fact that she wouldn't kill someone to restore her own vitality had something to do with that difference between her and her father.) There were the laugh lines on her forehead, some imperfections on her thighs and hips, some faint stretch marks on her abdomen, but Karolina was proud of those blemishes, not ashamed, and she showed them off instead of hiding them.

 

(“They're signs that I've lived, that I've had babies and done things, and that I've survived everything and everyone that's tried to kill me so far,” Karolina liked to say, and that was true.)

 

Nico suspected her own vitality had partly to do with her sorcery. Her mother and father had both looked younger than their age, and Nico was now channeling much more magic than her parents ever did. But while a sorcerer's internal magic could heal otherwise untreatable damage and slow the ravages of time, the power required to permanently defy time only came with terrible costs, and Nico wasn't willing to do anything so extreme.

 

There was also the conversation she and Karolina had shared in bed late one night, years ago, when Karolina flatly admitted that even though she had the potential to live longer than the typical human lifespan, she'd never pursue it, because that option wasn't open to Nico. Nico, unsurprisingly, had felt the same way. They'd live their lives together, and eventually they'd die, but until then, they'd enjoy every bit of life they possibly could.

 

Nico lifted her face into the first hints of sunlight over the horizon and activated her ultraviolet shielding enchantment (which was a bit of a misnomer, as it actually redirected nearly all of the ultraviolet light from just above Nico's skin to Karolina's, keeping Nico from getting sunburned and charging Karolina's powers) as she walked barefoot across the patio of their suite, stepping onto soft grass and sand as she looked down toward the ocean. The sun was peeking over the vast Atlantic, and the sky was beginning to lighten from a dark gray to an orange-red in a breathtaking tableau, but Nico wasn't paying attention to the sky at this point, because she was watching her daughter Persephone, her daughter-in-law Gloriana, and the two small children running with them on the white sand of the beach.

 

She was halfway across the beach and just about to the delineation between white, dry sand rich with bits of seashells and smooth brown, wet sand when she heard happy squeals and cries over the rushing of the waves.

 

“ _Obaa-chan!”_ shouted little Lydia, now three and a half years old, as she spotted Nico approaching them.

 

Coraline, just over two, looked up from where she was playing in the shallow surf. She saw her big sister stand up and start running out of the small waves, so of course she had to give chase. When she saw Nico as well, she gleefully shouted, “Ob-ah-ah! Ob-ah-ah!” in her best approximation of the Japanese term for grandmother.

 

Nico grinned and dropped to her knees in the wet sand to meet the charging toddlers, first Lydia with her long auburn hair and hazel eyes, then Coraline with her blonde hair and blue eyes. “Oh, it's _so good_ to see you two!” Nico said happily as she hugged the two little girls. “Your Nini's still in bed sleeping.”

 

“Long night?” asked Gloriana, wearing a minimalist bikini that might have been considered too revealing for _carnivale_. Persephone's wife of five years and girlfriend of twice that time didn't do shame or subtle, not with America Chavez and Kate Bishop as her mothers, and she was built like an Olympic pole vaulter, with broad shoulders, powerful arms and legs and a lean, visibly muscled core. The smirk on her face made it clear that she was teasing Nico.

 

Nico took that as a challenge.

 

She looked up at her daughter-in-law and calmly replied, “Long last night, this morning _and_ yesterday morning,” punctuating her response with a smirk of her own that surpassed Gloriana's; after all, Nico had been saying smug shit like that since well before Gloriana had been born.

 

Persephone laughed at her wife's look of surprise at Nico's rejoinder. She had learned not to tease her parents on the subject of sex, because they could totally outdo anything she tried on them.

 

“Come on, Glory,” Nico said with a huff. “Don't look so shocked. Kar and I are in our forties, but we're not _dead_. We _do_ still have sex, and we're actually pretty good at it at this point.”

 

“What's _sex_?” Lydia asked her grandmother.

 

Nico turned to look at the little girl. “Sex is something grownups can do together to make them feel even closer to each other. You'll find out more about it when you're OLD.” She emphasized the last word as she grinned, making the two little girls in her arms both squeal and try to get away from the cruel, horrific concept of aging.

 

Nico released the two toddlers, giving them both a light push toward their mommies. She stood in time for Persephone to step forward and wrap her arms around Nico.

 

“It's good to see you, Mama,” the dark-eyed blonde said, her loose hair blowing in the salty breeze.

 

“Good to see you too, Pers,” Nico replied, fighting back tears at just how grown-up her first little baby had become. “You have a beautiful family.”

 

They leaned back but didn't release each other as they looked into each other's eyes, each pair a matching cherry-wood in the dawning sunlight.

 

“Well, I had a pretty good example of what a family was supposed to be,” Persephone replied, smiling. “A couple of young kids who _swear_ they didn't know what they were doing, if you can believe it.”

 

Nico looked up at her little girl, nearly as tall as her other mom, and smiled at the kind, brave woman who was building her own family. “I guess your mom and I did okay, huh?” she finally said.

 

Persephone hugged her mom tightly again. “More than okay,” she whispered in Nico's ear. “So, _so_ much more than okay.”

 

“I'm happy for you, Pers,” Nico said quietly. “Goddess, you're already such a good mom.”

 

“Like I said,” replied the blonde. “Good examples.”

 

Nico felt her eyes start to water. “I'm, uh, gonna go crawl back in bed with your mom,” she said softly, not wanting to become emotional in front of her daughter-in-law and the grandkids. “You and your family should have some time by yourselves, before everyone else gets here. Did you get in your suite?”

 

“Yeah,” replied Persephone. “Thank you both, for this trip. This place is incredible.”

 

Nico smiled as she stepped back. “It's our pleasure,” she said. “For your mom and me both. We don't get to see you girls enough.” As she finished her sentence, she yawned again, trying futilely to cover it with her hand.

 

Persy's smile was wide. “Go get back in bed. I hear you need more sleep as you get older.”

 

Nico's smile flattened into a tight line. “Oh, you did _not_ just make an old joke at your mother.”

 

Persephone's grin grew wider. “Oh, I think I just did.”

 

“You're not too old for me to ground you, young lady.”

 

“Ground me?” Persy said, laughing. “Are you serious?!”

 

Nico held her ground, her face solemn. “As a heart attack,” she replied.

 

The two women looked at each for several seconds, eventually drawing an audience of Gloriana, Lydia and Coraline, all of whom remained silent as they watched, enthralled by the standoff.

 

A somewhat unnerved Persephone finally blinked, saying, “I'm twenty-seven years old, and I still have no idea if you're joking sometimes.”

 

Nico continued to stare at her oldest daughter coolly. “Am I known for my jokes?”

 

Mother and daughter continued to regard each other for a few more seconds before Nico smiled again, followed by Persephone visibly relaxing.

 

“Wow, Mama,” Persy said. “Scare a girl, why don't you?”

 

Nico reached up and patted Persephone's blonde head. “Just remember, I still have it,” she said.

 

“I don't think I'll forget. Tell Mom to come say hi when she wakes up.”

 

“I will. Love you, kid.”

 

“Love you too, Mama.”

 

Nico turned to her daughter-in-law and two oldest grandchildren. “I'll be back down in an hour or two with your Ni Ni.”

 

“Yay! Ni Ni!” Lydia said happily.

 

“Ni Ni! Ni Ni!” added Coraline, just as eagerly as her older sister.

 

Nico hugged Gloriana. “It's good to see you again, Glory. You and my daughter sure make beautiful babies.”

 

“You and Karolina do the same,” Gloriana replied, smiling as the two hugged. “And thank you for that. My wife's pretty amazing.”

 

Nico smiled at the Latina woman as they released each other. “You're welcome. We'll talk more when Kar and I come back down later.”

 

“Okay,” replied the woman Nico had watched grow up alongside Persephone. “Get your rest. These two'll wear you out otherwise. All they've talked about for the last week has been seeing their _obaa-chan_ and their Ni Ni.”

 

“They're so fucking cute,” Nico said, looking over to where the two girls and Persephone were digging in the wet sand close to the approaching waves. “Okay, go play with your wife and kids. We'll be down after we get our old people sleep.”

 

“Please note that _I_ didn't call you old.”

 

Nico smiled. “I did notice that. You have more respect for your elders. I imagine there's a story behind that.”

 

“Oh, yeah. It involved _mi madre_ and me getting my ass kicked when I was eighteen.”

 

“Sometimes those are the best lessons,” Nico said, nodding her head.

 

“Oh, definitely. Not forgetting that one any time soon.” Gloriana said quietly, looking up at the cries of protest as the waves swept away much of the girls' makeshift sand sculptures. “Okay, go get in bed with your wife. Pers and I will see if we can tire the little monsters out.”

 

Nico gave Gloriana a nod, then turned and started walking back up to the Presidential Suite's patio. There was still some cuddle time left, hopefully.

 

—O—

 

A crisp smack on her ass woke Karolina up with a yelp. Out of reflex, she illuminated and grabbed at the sheet, yanking it over herself as she rolled over and floated off the bed, clutching the sheet to her chest with her right hand and holding her left arm in front of her, in position to blast something if necessary.

 

As her sleepy brain registered the sight of her wife laughing while rolling on the bed, Karolina decided that blasting something might indeed be the right choice.

 

A careful burst of pink light just below Nico's body sent the smaller woman flying slightly upward and tumbling off the bed, falling toward the ground until Karolina used her light to catch Nico right before she hit the carpeted floor of the bedroom.

 

“That was _not_ a nice way to wake up your loving wife,” the perturbed blonde said, glowing pink and purple and yellow as she hovered above the bed as Nico still fought laughter.

 

“Oh, but it was funny. I wasn't counting on that aggressive a response!”

 

“I should've let you land on your ass,” Karolina said with a slight huff, her body casting a pink glow on the cream-colored wall behind her.

 

“How about if I let you spank _me_ instead?”

 

Karolina considered the offer for several seconds. “In the shower,” she finally said, firmly. “And make it fast.”

 

Nico grinned again as she used the side of the bed to pull herself to her feet, then she ran to the bathroom, with Karolina swooping in to follow her.

 

—O—

 

“Ohmigod,” Karolina swore, panting, as she sat on the floor of the large walk-in shower, leaning back against the tiled stone wall as she held a naked Nico, curled up in Karolina's lap and hugging the blonde. “That's three separate times in what, twelve hours?”

 

“Yeah, if that,” Nico said, yawning happily as she clung to a warm, wet, nearly-hyperventilating Karolina. “Don't remember the last time we pulled that off.”

 

“Neither do I. My heart's pounding.”

 

“I know.” Nico grinned; her head pressed to Karolina's chest. “I can feel it as much as hear it.”

 

Karolina smiled and ran her fingers through Nico's wet hair. “Mmm, that's what you do to me, Mrs. Dean, even after all these years.”

 

“And how many years has it been, Mrs. Dean?” Nico replied. She adored the sensation of Karolina's fingers sliding through her hair.

 

“Oh, wow,” Karolina smoothly replied, enjoying the teasing. “Maybe... forty? Forty-one? It feels like _forever_.”

 

“Shut the fuck up,” Nico swore, laughing as she poked Karolina's stomach in one of the few spots that Nico wasn't covering with her body.

 

Karolina giddily laughed right back at Nico; she slid her arms under her smaller wife and lifted Nico up, shining with pink and yellow light as she floated to a upright position rather than trying to stand in the slick shower.

 

Nico's arms tightened around Karolina's neck. “I love you so fucking much,” she said as she pressed a kiss against the wet skin of the blonde's neck.

 

Karolina's smile widened in the steam of the shower. “I love you so fucking much too, my sweet little foul-mouthed princess,” she replied happily.

 

“Mmm, I'm your prickly pear cactus today, I think,” Nico replied, the tip of her left index finger sliding along Karolina's wet chest, tracing from one droplet of water to another.

 

“Well, you definitely taste sweet today,” Karolina replied, a smug smile on her face. “I can testify to that.”

 

This time it was Nico who grinned wide enough to show teeth. “You took a cute little metaphor and made it dirty,” she said, looking at her wife. “I like it.”

 

“You've corrupted me,” Karolina said theatrically, blinking her wet eyelashes framing her blue eyes.

 

“And you've loved every minute of it.”

 

“Every _second_.”

 

—O—

 

By the time Nico and Karolina stepped out of the patio door holding hands, the little crowd down at the ocean had grown considerably. Noon was approaching, and now there were other families staking out claims on the lovely stretch of beach, though none of them were particularly close.

 

Nico had put her black bikini back on, since it hadn't even gotten wet earlier that morning, and Karolina was wearing a white bikini to match as well as contrast her wife.

 

“If that bikini goes see-thru, I'll definitely enjoy the view,” Nico said, looking to the side at her wife, whose long blonde hair was loose and blowing in the ocean breeze.

 

“It doesn't,” Karolina replied easily. “Already checked. So no peep show for you.”

 

“That's a shame,” replied the dark-haired witch. She reached out and took Karolina's left hand; the blonde's right hand was occupied carrying their beach bag. “Glory's wearing damn near nothing, just so you know.”

 

“Well, she's got the body for it. She needs to flaunt it while she can. I'm sure Pers is loving it.”

 

“Oh, I'm sure. How bad are we going to tease the girls today?”

 

Karolina smiled as she considered her reply. As they stepped off the arching wooden walkway that took them safely over the protected grasses and onto the pale sand of the beach proper, she finally said, “They just got here. Let's not mortify them in front of their significant others just yet.”

 

“Well, that's no fun,” replied Nico.

 

Karolina smiled over her shoulder and moved her blowing hair out of her face. “We're here a week. That's plenty of time to embarrass them.” She gave a light tug to Nico's arm and stopped to let Nico draw even with her before making their way across the powdery sand.

 

As they looked down toward the ocean, they saw that among the roughly two dozen large blue beach umbrellas arranged along the wide swath of sparsely-populated beach, four of them had been arranged in a fairly tight grouping closer to the ocean but directly in front of them; seated in the shade beneath one of the umbrellas was Lenore, easily distinguished by her long, inky hair, identical to Nico's. Her husband Jimmy was stretched out beside her; his short, sandy hair was likewise fairly easy to identify as he seemed to be just lying beside Lenore, talking to her beneath the shade of the heavy umbrellas.

 

Beside them was a baby carseat doubling as a carrier, resting on its own lounge chair, and inside that carseat was the youngest (by a week) of Nico and Karolina's grandchildren, Ligeia Minoru Dean. Lenore and Jimmy had agreed before marriage that any daughters would carry the Dean name, while any sons would be Kaplans, paying respect to both families.

 

(Nico still wasn't happy with Lenore's choice of middle name for her and Jimmy's daughter, but it wasn't Nico's choice to make.)

 

Lenore had delivered her first baby exactly seven days after Pandora's wife Jhileesa had delivered their second baby, Blair Dean. Dori had carried the first of her family's children, and now little Sabrina, with her strawberry-blonde hair and blue-green eyes, was nearly thirteen months old.

 

Sabrina was standing down in the edge of the surf, laughing as she ran in and out of the water, splashing whenever she could. Dori chased the little girl, who had seemed to go from her first steps to a full run in less than four weeks, as they played. Jhil stood nearby, holding baby Blair, who was now three weeks old; Jhil's long, curly red hair tossed in the strong, salty gusts rushing in to shore from the ocean. Jhil had learned to control her Majesdanian glow quite well over the years that she and Pandora had been together, and she kept her luminescence turned off while they were on Earth to avoid attracting attention. Her and Dori's husband Isaac, taller than his two wives but not by much, was chasing Sabrina through the small waves, making sure that whenever the little girl started to slow down that he was there to elicit a happy shriek and send her into motion again.

 

Isaac was from Earth and had been Pandora's best friend since middle school; him joining Dori and Jhil as part of a romantic triad was relatively new, just under a year, and that change had come about after the two girls had asked Isaac to serve as the sperm donor for their first baby, whom Dori would eventually carry. He was with them throughout the pregnancy and helped take care of Brina and both of her moms after she was born. As such, it wasn't a surprise that after all that time spent in close proximity to Pandora, Jhileesa and baby Sabrina, romantic feelings began to form between each of Brina's moms and Isaac.

 

It was Dori who had suggested the unorthodox arrangement of bringing Isaac into the relationship with her and Jhil after the two young women acknowledged that a potential problem was developing, and following several weeks of charged and frequently tearful discussions, the two young women had decided to try it. Isaac was and always would be Sabrina's family, and by that time he was practically part of Dori's and Jhil's as well. The two women both pledged that their relationship would remain intact no matter what, but silently they both understood that there was a strong chance this if this experiment failed, it would likely shatter their relationship instead.

 

It hadn't gone smoothly at first, but the three of them had placed a strong emphasis on open and frequent communication from the very beginning (a lesson learned from Pandora's moms), and that, along with the strong love all three shared for baby Sabrina, allowed them to work through the awkwardness and fear, acknowledge and soothe hurt feelings when they occurred and weather the inevitable embarrassing moments. After the uneasy first three months, the relationship between the three adults began to feel smoother and more natural, and they found a freedom in throwing out societal expectations and assumptions and just letting their love for each other, Sabrina and the new child Jhil was carrying determine how their relationship evolved. (Stomping on societal expectations and conventions was what Pandora had done from a very early age anyway.)

 

Dori looked radiant as she jumped and stepped excitedly, sometimes running with Sabrina away from her father, sometimes catching the girl herself and tickling her. The youngest of the Dean sisters was wearing a shimmering silver bikini with a bandeau top; the swimsuit was made of a metallic fabric from Majesdane, and it caught and reflected the sunlight in striking ways as her body moved.

 

Dori paused in front of Jhil to tickle baby Blair, then place a kiss on the baby's forehead. She then smiled at Jhil and kissed her deeply, taking advantage of them being pressed together to grab Jhil's butt through the redhead's dark green swimsuit. Dori's wife playfully swatted at her wrist, getting a laugh and rapid retreat from the willowy blonde sporting pink and blue streaks on both sides of her hair.

 

“Mm, looks like Dori learned at least one move from her mama,” Karolina said as they watched the triad and their two babies interact with each other. Isaac smiled and caught Dori as she splashed through the shallow surf, hugging and kissing her before releasing the blonde, who smiled and playfully pushed him toward Jhil so he could kiss her as well.

 

“Yeah, that one's always worked well for me when it comes to you,” Nico replied cheerfully as they neared the island of shade on the sunny beach, and soon they were right behind their middle daughter and her family.

 

“Hi!” Karolina said eagerly as they reached Lenore and her husband, both of whom had their backs to the older women. Lenore and Jimmy both started at the sound; the sudden movement of her mother led to baby Ligeia being startled, which led to the newborn starting to cry.

 

“Oh, no! I'm so sorry!” Karolina said more softly, genuinely feeling terrible at causing the disruption. “I thought you'd feel us coming!”

 

“Well, normally I would, except for the fact that I'm fucking exhausted,” Lenore replied, looking up as her moms stepped around her and her husband to sit on the large quilt spread out beneath the shade of the beach umbrellas. “I love this little shit, but she isn't letting me sleep.”

 

“I see you still have your mama's potty mouth,” Karolina said proudly, as Nico just smiled and tickled Ligeia's bare belly. “You look so much like her, too. So beautiful.”

 

“At least she's taller than me,” Nico said. “ _Barely_.”

 

“It still counts,” Lenore said quickly, smiling at her petite Mama. “You want to hold her?” she asked, looking at both of her moms. Nico seemed as composed as usual, but Karolina was visibly quivering at the thought of holding the newest grandbaby.

 

“We'd _love_ to take her off your hands for a bit!” Karolina said, eagerly reaching for little Ligeia. She took the fussing baby into her arms and positioned the infant facing the blonde against her left chest, patting Ligeia's back gently. “You want to hold her now too?” she asked, turning to Nico.

 

Nico looked at the baby in Karolina's arms and smiled. She gently smoothed Ligeia's dark hair down across the baby's head. “You spend some time with her first,” Nico said, looking up at Karolina, who was beaming again. Karolina had always looked beautiful holding a baby in her arms, and that sight always made Nico's heart beat just a bit faster. “I'll hold Nor Junior when you're ready to hand her over. I know better than to get between you and a baby.”

 

Karolina laughed lightly, and Ligeia's eyelids fluttered open, revealing sleepy blue eyes. “I'm going to go walk around with her for a bit,” she said. “If that's okay.”

 

“Of course,” Lenore said, with Jimmy nodding in affirmation.

 

“We trust you,” said their son-in-law, smiling. “We know where you live, after all.”

 

“Okay,” Nico said, placing a quick kiss on Karolina's cheek. “Love you.”

 

“Love you too,” replied Karolina, pausing for Nico to place a kiss on the wisps of dark hair on Ligeia's head before she got to her feet and stepped out from under the royal blue umbrellas. “We're just going to walk down the beach for a bit.”

 

“Okay,” Lenore said, her pronunciation dropping off as she yawned forcefully. “Holy fuck, I'm tired.”

 

“My poor sweet witch-alien wife,” Jimmy said, smiling as he rubbed his wife's back. He had a lean build, but he was still notably taller and larger than Lenore, and his right arm easily gathered her against him.

 

“My poor sweet warlock-alien husband,” Lenore replied playfully, staring into Jimmy's green eyes.

 

Nico smiled as she watched Nor lean into Jimmy's side. The sandy-haired young man lightly coaxed Lenore into getting out of her lounge chair and climbing onto his, leaning back onto his body as he wrapped his arms around her waist, taking great care not to squeeze her tightly.

 

“How did you two do it, Mama?” Nor asked, her head resting on Jimmy's bare chest as she sleepily opened her eyes to focus that sapphire gaze—one of the few features that clearly came from Karolina—onto Nico. “Raise three babies, plus be superheroes?”

 

“Because we were too stupid to know better and too stubborn to give up,” replied the dark-haired woman. “We also had help from our big family. And we loved all three of you more than anything, even when we wanted to choke you.”

 

Jimmy grinned and Nor laughed once at that statement. “Any essential advice for new parents?” Nor asked, stifling another yawn.

 

Nico looked happily at the sight of her middle daughter, the one who was clearly following in her sorcerous footsteps, being lovingly held by her husband of over two years. “The best parental advice I can give you both is that when you're at your limit, when she's cried and screamed and fussed and _will not_ shut the fuck up, you need to put her in her crib or her playpen, make sure she's safe and secure, then WALK _..._ THE FUCK _..._ AWAY.”

 

Lenore's eyes opened again, wider this time.

 

“I'm serious,” Nico added. “That's part of having a new baby. There are going to be times when you're drained and exhausted and stressed and you'd give anything for your precious little sweet child to stop fucking wailing like a banshee and just take a goddamn nap like she needs to do, but she abso-fucking-lutely refuses to do anything of the sort. You're going to be at your wit's end and trying to think of something, _anything_ to get her to shut the fuck up, because she doesn't want to eat, and she spits her pacifier out when you try to give it to her, or, worse, she throws it _right in your fucking face_ , and then you get this thought that shoots through your mind like a lightning bolt where you just fucking want to shake the shit out of her, because you're exhausted and she won't let you sleep and you can't take one more second of her screaming. THAT is when you put her down in a safe place, very carefully, and walk the fuck out of that room until you've calmed down.”

 

Lenore's eyes held her mama's dark brown eyes carefully. “Seriously?” she asked her mother.

 

Nico nodded. “Absolutely. We're all human, Nor.” Seeing the grins on both her middle daughter and her son-in-law, Nico waved dismissively at the two of them and smiled. “Figure of speech. You know what I mean.”

 

“Yeah,” Jimmy said, laughing. “We do.”

 

“The point is,” continued Nico, “we all have our limits, and when we're pushed to them, bad thoughts come to us. It's not like we logically plan out hurting a baby. Those thoughts that come up from the worst parts of our psyche only escape because we're exhausted and stressed beyond all reasonable limits. They're impulses that come from parts of our brains that we can't control, and they scare the shit out of us when they show up, because they catch us off-guard. Then, when we think about them, we feel like the biggest pieces of shit because _holy fuck, where did that thought come from, am I seriously thinking about shaking or hurting my child that I just went through ten months of hell to bring into this world?_ ”

 

Nor and Jimmy were both watching Nico very closely now, because there was an undeniable tone of personal experience in her words.

 

“Yeah, it sounds horrible, but both of you are going to get to that point over something,” Nico said, not looking away from either of them. “What's important is that you realize that you're NOT some horrible parent for having those thoughts occur when you're at your wit's end. What WOULD make you a horrible parent would be acting on those thoughts.

 

“That's why when you're at that point, you have to be able to recognize what's going on and know that the right choice is to put some distance between yourself and your baby, at least for a minute or two. Once your baby's safe, walk the fuck out of the room. Go sit in the hall. Go into the next room. Get a drink of water. Do _anything_ , as long as you're out of that room with the screaming child until those really dangerous thoughts have gone away. Then you can go back in that room, look at that little baby whom you know you love, and be thankful that you stopped before you did something terrible.”

 

Nico took in the serious looks on Nor's and Jimmy's faces. “I'm dead serious,” she said. “I got to those points with all of you. Kar did, too. Dori was the worst when it came to pissing us off, but all three of you could push us to that point, even you, Nor, and you were the sweetest fucking baby of all three of you.”

 

“See?” Nor said, poking her husband's thigh. “I _was_ the best baby.”

 

“Except for the time you threw up peaches all over Old Lace.”

 

“MAMA!” Nor yelped, turning notably red as Jimmy started laughing wildly.

 

“It was the worst mess, and Lace was freaking out and running all over the Hostel, so half-digested peaches went _everywhere_ , and then _Gert_ started throwing up from the smell, which meant _Lace_ started throwing up...” Nico trailed off, looking at Lenore covering her burning face with both of her hands. “Well, thankfully the Staff was really good at cleaning up big messes.”

 

“Oh. My. God. Mama.” Lenore mumbled out from behind her fingers.

 

Nico patted Lenore's thigh gently. “You'll have your little parenting horror stories one day, Nor, I promise,” she said cheerfully. “You can hold them over your kids' heads for the rest of their lives.”

 

“Someone's had a little poopy!” Karolina said cheerily as she ducked back under the large beach umbrellas, holding Ligeia in front of her as she went down to her knees on the thick multicolored beach quilt.

 

“Great,” Lenore mumbled, grabbing the diaper bag and pulling the portable changing pad out, unfolding it as she laid it on the quilt. “Ugh,” she said, wincing. “That does _not_ smell good.”

 

“Are Billy and Teddy doing okay, Jimmy?” asked Nico as she plucked a diaper from the now-open diaper bag, waving Lenore's hands away as the other dark-haired Dean woman tried to help.

 

“They're doing great, but I miss them,” said the rather softly-spoken man.

 

“Off in space again?” Nico said, getting a nod from her son-in-law as a silent reply. She held the disposable diaper out for Karolina, who stared at it for a few seconds before looking up at Nico and giving her wife an accusatory look before turning that same look on Lenore. Jimmy held his tongue, wisely, and avoided the look.

 

“It's just while we're on vacation, Mom!” Lenore sighed. “I wasn't sure we'd have a chance to wash her regular diapers while we were here. I felt guilty as shit even buying this one small pack of disposables!”

 

After holding her middle daughter's gaze for a few uncomfortable moments, Karolina finally took the disposable diaper from Nico's hand like it was a venomous snake.

 

“These things are poison for the environment,” muttered Karolina, not too quietly, as she pulled Ligeia's shorts off, revealing a visibly bulging disposable diaper. The blonde's expression became even more dour somehow.

 

“Mom, I feel really bad about you having to change Gee's diaper,” Lenore said, visibly uncomfortable.

 

“Lenore Kaplan-Dean, I have changed hundreds if not thousands of diapers between you and your sisters,” Karolina said, lifting Ligeia by her legs as she smoothly wiped the baby clean, tossing the dirty wipes into the poopy diaper. “Let a grandma enjoy the callback to when she had babies of her own.”

 

“And the environment's doing better, too,” Lenore said, “thanks to Uncle Chase and Aunt Gert, Great-Aunt Janet and Majesdanian technology.”

 

“Plus your sisters have done a lot to improve the relations between Earth and Majesdane,” added Jimmy.

 

Lenore snorted with laughter, something she did only rarely when she was especially tickled or especially tired, or both. “Literally, in Dori's case,” she said, grinning.

 

Nico laughed out loud, while Karolina stifled the urge to do so.

 

“How does that seem to be working?” Karolina asked. “Does she still talk quite a bit to you and Pers? Is she happy with things? We were—and still are—worried, because three's not a very stable number, but we have to let Dori live her life.”

 

Lenore nodded. “She's really happy,” she said softly. “She just told me the other day that she had been scared shitless when she first brought up bringing Ike into her and Jhil's marriage, because we all know that's what they have even though they never got married legally, but she said Ikey being in the relationship all the way actually stabilized her and Jhil and made them more secure with each other, not less. She also said that having an extra set of hands to help with babies and feeding and cooking and cleaning was fantastic.”

 

“Huh,” Nico said thoughtfully. “Hard to think of Dori being scared of anything.”

 

“Mom,” Lenore said, a knowing grin on her face. “Dori's scared of a _lot_. She just never lets it stop her from doing what she wants to do. And she and Jhil and Ike talk about _everything_. Like, exhaustively. I think that's what got them through the initial awkwardness and jealousy.”

 

“How are _you_ holding up?” asked Karolina, looking up at Lenore while lifting the now-clean baby Ligeia to her chest once more. “Postpartum hormones can really kick your ass.”

 

Lenore nodded. “I'm doing okay so far. Jimmy's helping me watch for anything.”

 

“It hit Kar shortly after Persy was born,” said Nico, who looked at her wife. “What was it baby, four weeks after? Five?”

 

“Mmm, five, I think,” replied Karolina. “Yours was worse than mine, though.”

 

Nico nodded. “Yeah. Mine really sucked. I had to go on an antidepressant for about six months. Didn't particularly want to, but I just couldn't get the really shitty thoughts out of my head, even with therapy and exercise.”

 

“That was maybe the most scared I've ever been,” Karolina said softly. “Because it wasn't something we could fight physically... or run away from. It was inside Nico, but it wasn't really part of her, and nothing I did could make it stop or make her feel better. When things really got bad, she had me keep the Staff.”

 

“Wow,” Lenore said. “I didn't realize it got that bad.”

 

“It did,” Nico said simply. “It was like sliding down this hole in the dark, with nothing to grab to slow me down. It got to feel so overwhelming, like I was never going to be as happy as I should be, and it was totally my fault for not being able to get past the despair.”

 

“It was bad,” Karolina said, smiling sadly at Nico. “Thankfully, she responded to the first thing Doctor Lindell tried. After several days those thoughts got quieter, then after a few weeks they stopped. After a few months, she was able to taper off of it and was back to her precious, lovable self.”

 

“I didn't exactly _like_ the way I felt on it, but it made those thoughts that terrified me—”

 

“And me,” interjected Karolina.

 

“—Go away, and that was what was most important,” finished Nico. “And somehow Kar put up with me through all of it.” She put her hand on Karolina's bare thigh; Karolina quickly covered Nico's hand with her own.

 

“Of course I put up with you, hon. You were already trained. It would have taken years to teach a new wife.”

 

Lenore and Jimmy laughed as Nico's expression shifted into one of amused amazement, but before the smaller woman could reply, a woman's shriek from down the beach drew everyone's attention.

 

“ _HELP!! OH GOD, HELP! SHE WENT UNDER AND ISN'T COMING BACK UP!”_

 

Karolina quickly handed Ligeia to Lenore, while Nico was already scrambling to her feet, only to trip as the beach towel beneath her wrapped around her right foot.

 

Over where her family was standing, Pandora bloomed into incandescence, swirls of flickering red, green and purple blending into an optical illusion of near-white as the blonde turned in the direction of the screams.

 

Down in the surf, Persephone picked up Lydia and Coraline and thrust them into Gloriana's arms. “Please hang onto them,” Persephone said quickly, seeing a glowing Dori streak past her.

 

“ _I can help!”_ the dark-haired woman argued in rapid Spanish as she shifted her grip on their daughters, one in each arm.

 

“ _I know you can, love, but you can't see underwater, and Dor and I can,”_ Persephone replied in the same language, getting a nod from her wife after just a second; she quickly kissed Gloriana on the lips before illuminating into indigo light, turning as she flew toward a frantic woman running and splashing through the waves just down the beach.

 

Pandora already had a head start, and Persephone couldn't catch her before the youngest of the Dean sisters knifed below the surface of the ocean, her glow muted but still visible as she flew underwater through the dark green of the ocean. Persephone followed, flying out deeper before slicing below the grey-green waves and turning back toward shore.

 

Her eyes stung from the salt water, but that was a minor annoyance; Persephone focused her attention on the ultraviolet spectrum of light, immediately visualizing the outline of a small child moving toward her, flailing as she was bounced off the ocean floor by the strong tides. On the opposite side of the child was the glowing form of Pandora, the fluctuating wavelengths of her light pulsing as Dori shot through the murky water toward the child as well.

 

With the tide pulling the child out to sea and directly toward Persephone, the oldest Dean sibling beat her youngest sister to the panicking girl despite Dori's head start. She carefully gathered the child to her chest before shooting upward, breaking the surface with a spray of seawater briefly following her before she leveled out and streaked back to the distraught family on the beach, a lingering trail of indigo light hanging briefly in the air behind her as she flew.

 

The girl couldn't have been older than two, and she was choking and coughing for the few seconds that it took Persephone to reach the shore. The glowing woman dropped to a knee in the sand, in the midst of the distraught family that now included not just the young mother but a boy older than the drowning girl, maybe about ten or eleven, and a middle-aged man and woman as well. Persephone laid the girl across her bent leg just as the toddler began to convulse.

 

Swearing under her breath, Persy heard and felt Pandora join her, dropping to her knees in the sand beside them. Dori grasped the girl's torso, steadying the toddler over Persephone's thigh as the older girl lifted her left hand until her fingers were nearly touching the girl's dusky lips. Silver light began to glow around Persy's indigo hand as her fingers slowly wiggled, using her magic to gently grasp and pull the seawater out of the girl's lungs and airway without damaging her.

 

As soon as the girl began to retch, Persy jerked her hand back, yanking the seawater out of the girl's throat and mouth as the girl vomited, forcefully expelling even more water from her stomach that she had swallowed in her panic. Persephone patted the toddler's back as she heaved again, then coughed wetly and spit up more phlegm as Dori kept holding the girl, too shaky to stand on her own.

 

“Is she okay?”

 

Persy looked up at the familiar voice, seeing Gloriana gracefully touch down on her feet just a few feet away, a squirming child in each arm. “Yeah, I think she'll be fine in a few minutes. Just getting out all the ocean that she swallowed.”

 

“Oh, my gosh, thank you! Thank you _so much!”_ said the young woman who had been screaming and panicking moments ago; she fell to her knees and threw her arms around the shivering toddler. Pandora gently released the girl to the young mother, smiling tenderly at the shaken young woman.

 

“She should be okay other than a sore throat for a day or two,” Persephone said, her hands briefly glowing with silver light again as she cast a detection spell over the girl; when no serious damage was found, she smiled at the little brown-haired toddler before giving her a soft pat on her shoulder.

 

Still kneeling, Persephone felt someone looming beside her. She looked up and to her left to see the tween boy, who was openly staring at her with amazement.

 

“You're an Avenger,” the boy said, his voice just above a whisper. “You're Twilight, aren't you?”

 

Persephone knew there wasn't going to be an easy way to talk herself out of this one, considering she and Dori were both still luminous. “Yeah, I am,” she said resignedly. “What's your name?”

 

“Lucas,” said the boy, eyes still enormous. “You just saved my sister.”

 

Persy looked up at the others that had gathered around, the little girl, the girl's mother, Dori and Gloriana and the girls (who were now struggling in their attempts to escape their mother's grasp) less than a meter away, then a small but growing crowd of maybe a dozen people standing about fifteen or twenty meters away, watching them.

 

A quick gesture of her right hand cast a spell that temporarily shut down all wireless devices, hoping that no one nearby had a radio-sensitive pacemaker or defibrillator, then she turned off her luminescence, with Dori quickly doing the same.

 

“And that other girl's Daylight, from the Young Avengers,” Lucas said, jerking his head toward Dori as their luminescence vanished. His jaw dropped as he stared at the willowy blonde kneeling where Daylight was a moment before, then he looked down at Persephone again, seeing another innocuous but amused blonde looking up at him now. “Y-You can look normal too?!” he rattled out.

 

“Here, hon,” Gloriana said, handing Lydia to Persephone before the blonde could answer. “Take one of the squirts. They're killing me.”

 

The boy's attention shifted to the brunette's toned muscles as she handed an auburn-haired girl to the older blonde woman who had saved his sister, then shifted the other little girl, this one with long blonde hair, into a better grip. (Holding a squirming toddler was difficult enough; add nascent super strength and things got dicey sometimes, even for superhero parents.)

 

“Jeez-o-pete!” the boy exclaimed as he looked (briefly) at the Latina woman's face. “You're Glory!”

 

Persephone wasn't sure whether to laugh or be offended as the awestruck preteen's gaze kept flitting between Gloriana's chest and her abdomen.

 

“Can I get a picture with you?!” asked the boy eagerly, only to yelp as the young girl's mother grabbed him by his left ear. “OW! STOP!”

 

“No, _you_ stop, Lucas Gatz!” said the brown-haired woman, who looked to be about Dori's age. “These women saved your niece's life, and you're being a nosy little creep!”

 

The woman looked up at Persephone and Gloriana, each of them wrestling with a fussy toddler and trying not to get hit by a stray elbow or foot but both clearly focused on the other young woman present.

 

“Thank you for saving my Willa,” she said, looking first at Persephone, then at Pandora. “She's all I have left of her daddy.” She took in a deep breath and blinked a few times. “Car wreck. She doesn't... She doesn't even remember him.” Now her eyes were clearly watering, and she had to blink a few more times before she could speak again. “Thank you,” she repeated, her voice tight with emotion.

 

“You're welcome,” Persephone replied, finally throwing Lydia over her shoulder and letting the auburn-haired girl's legs flail in the air.

 

“I'm sorry my little brother Lucas is aggravating you. He'll leave you alone. I'm sure you and your family are here on vacation too. All that ya'll do, you deserve some privacy.” She took a look at the wriggling toddlers Persephone and Gloriana were holding and smiled. “How old are your kids?” she asked.

 

“This one's three,” Persy said, playfully smacking Lydia's butt and getting an aggrieved squeal from behind her back. “And that one's two,” she added, pointing with her free left arm to Coraline, whom Gloriana was now holding upside down, gripping her legs securely as the little girl's arms thrashed about.

 

“I bet they're handfuls,” said the other young woman, grinning as she clutched her daughter to her chest.

 

“Oh my god,” Gloriana said. “You have _no_ idea.”

 

As the brunette said that, Lydia popped the dull gray bracelet off her right wrist, tossing it to the sand. She immediately bloomed into a red-gold glow, lifting up off Persephone's shoulder, but she only made it a few centimeters away before Persy's hand latched onto her right ankle.

 

“Oh no, missy,” Persy said. “Powers off. We're in public. You only turn on your light to protect yourself or someone else.”

 

“Mom!” moaned the aggrieved girl.

 

“Powers. _Off.”_

 

“Can I at least get _down?”_

 

“Can you _stand still?”_

 

A loud sigh came from Lydia's lips, but she wiggled herself into an upright position and slowly descended until her bare feet were squishing into the dry sand. The scarlet glow around her flickered but didn't completely resolve until the girl turned and took a few steps to retrieve the thin metal bracelet she had dropped to the sand. As soon as her fingers closed around the bracelet, her red glow vanished.

 

Pandora got to her feet, brushing sand off her knees.

 

“This is going to be an interesting vacation,” she said quietly. She looked up and caught Gloriana's eyes, and there was definite amusement in the dark eyes of her sister-in-law.

 

—O—

 

Later that evening, all of them were at a restaurant just down the road called the Aqua Grill. They had commandeered two large tables on the restaurant's patio, safe and dry beneath the wooden beams of the roof as a Florida rainstorm washed across the short, tough grass and the small marina just meters away.

 

Nico leaned back against Karolina, smiling as she let herself relax in the arms of the woman who was everything to her, the woman who had given everything to her, the woman who had made Nico's life _more_ in so many ways that a single word couldn't do the truth justice.

 

Lydia and Coraline were squabbling about a dessert they had split, each accusing the other of getting more than her half. Persephone and Gloriana were watching each other as well as their daughters, obviously weighing whether or not this bickering warranted parental intervention. Jhil was nursing Blair beneath the cover of a white woven blanket, while Pandora had her left index finger clutched in Blair's tiny hand as she held a sleepy Sabrina to her chest with her right arm. Isaac's right hand slowly traced up and down the one-year-old's back, lulling her into sleep despite her cousins' arguing. Across the table, Lenore and Jimmy sat with their backs to the clouded sky and the falling rain, smiling as Lenore leaned against her husband as Jimmy held her while she held Ligeia, who was clad in a simple black onesie.

 

“You think they're getting too loud?” Karolina whispered in Nico's ear. The warmth of her wife's breath and the brush of Karolina's lips against Nico's skin made the smaller woman shiver with a delicious sensation.

 

“Nah. I already put up a spell that lowered the volume other people hear from our tables,” Nico said, shifting her body slightly against Karolina's to increase their bodily contact.

 

“Are you cold, hon?” asked Karolina, looking down to see Nico lift her head to look back up at her.

 

“No, that was a good shiver,” Nico replied, smiling. “Plus you always keep me warm.”

 

A sudden rise in pitch and volume from Coraline made Nico and Karolina both look back at the table, just in time to see Persy cast a time-out spell on the toddler, muffling her aggrieved shrieks and locking inanimate objects around the child into place so that she couldn't knock them over or throw them.

 

Nico felt a glow of pride spread in her chest as she watched her oldest daughter handle the situation with a sleepy and thus grumpy Coraline as her oldest daughter-in-law quelled Lydia's impending response with just a stern look, stopping the argument between the sisters from escalating.

 

Nico covered Karolina's hands, clasped together over Nico's stomach, with her own right hand, giving it a soft pat before resting her hand comfortably over the blonde's.

 

“It's amazing,” Karolina whispered against Nico's ear. “Isn't it? Having all three of our girls here, seeing them happy, with their own little families that they're just starting?”

 

Nico felt her eyes start to tear up, so she nodded as an initial response, taking a few seconds to collect her emotions before speaking. “I honestly never could have imagined it,” she said quietly. “Not when we were seventeen and worried about what we were going to eat the next day. Or if there even _was_ going to be a next day, because that wasn't always a sure thing.”

 

Karolina pressed a kiss into Nico's dark hair. “Funny that by losing everything, we wound up gaining so much more,” she said softly.

 

—O—

 

Shortly before midnight, the patio door to Nico and Karolina's suite softly creaked open.

 

It was pitch black on the beach because of local laws requiring all ocean-facing illumination to be turned off shortly after the sun had set, to minimize potential disruption to sea turtles coming ashore to lay eggs. Karolina had no difficulty seeing in the dark with the enhanced range of her vision, and a simple spell granted Nico the same ability to see in the dark. They carried a large, thick quilt, a smaller blanket and a large pillow with them as they stole their way down to the ocean under the cover of a concealment spell while wearing only thin nightshirts, a white one that fell nearly to the knees for Nico and a light pink one that went to mid-thigh for Karolina. The light garments blew gently in the brisk breeze swirling in off the ocean, and the coolness of the night was a wonderful contrast to the burning heat of the day.

 

There was only one couple out on the beach watching turtles at this time, far away from the spot Nico and Karolina chose in the soft, dry sand far above the current locations of the tides reaching the shore.

 

“Make sure we're far enough away,” Karolina whispered as Nico selected a spot for them in the pale sand. “I don't want to wake up with wet feet again!”

 

“That was only one time, Kar,” Nico whispered back, _maybe_ a bit defensively.

 

“It still wasn't fun! Having to wash my feet off with cold water at six in the morning _sucked_.”

 

“I had to do it too, you big baby. Grab a corner of the quilt. And don't look up yet, it'll ruin the effect.” She reached out, offering a corner of the thick quilt to her wife.

 

“Remember me again why I do these things with you?” Karolina hissed softly as she took the corner and slid her other hand down the side of the heavy fabric.

 

“Because it's fun and romantic, _and_ it was your idea,” Nico quietly whispered back as they situated the quilt on the sand, being careful not to track any sand onto it. “Here,” she softly said, handing the blanket and pillow to Karolina as the blonde gingerly lowered herself to the quilt.

 

“Not easy doing this without floating,” Karolina lightly griped, sweeping sand from her bare feet off the quilt.

 

“Boo hoo,” Nico whispered back smiling, pleased that she could be sarcastic even when whispering.

 

Nico's heart felt light as she used a stick she had found earlier in the day to trace an unbroken circle in the sand around their spread quilt. She carefully walked a path around their makeshift campsite, keeping the tip of the stick in contact with the sand until the circle was completed, roughly two and a half meters in diameter to leave some room between their quilt and the perimeter of the enchantment she was about to cast.

 

Satisfied that the circle was good, she carefully stepped over the circle and placed the stick on the sand between their quilt and the circle. She squatted down, winced at her knees popping—middle age wasn't for wimps—and cast the notice-me-not spell, stronger than the concealment spell she had been maintaining, that would make sure no living or spirit creature paid attention to them while the circle remained intact.

 

Satisfied, she let her self sit backward onto the quilt, sighing softly with relief at being able to stretch her legs out again. It was only through self-discipline that she didn't throw her head back and look up, but it was close. Thankfully, she was able to close her eyes as she worked her way back onto the quilt, trying to brush any sand that found its way onto the quilt around their feet back off before she lay back beside Karolina, who was already stretched out on her back, eyes closed and a broad smile on her face.

 

“I'm know I bitch about it, but I really do enjoy this,” Nico said, voice slightly above a whisper now that the more powerful concealment enchantment was active.

 

“I know!” Karolina said excitedly, her voice likewise a bit louder but still restrained. She turned her head over to face Nico, though she kept her eyes closed. “Thank you for doing this me,” she said tenderly. “I love sharing these moments with you.”

 

Nico turned her own head over, likewise keeping her eyes closed as well. “Thank you for pestering the shit out of me until I finally agreed to do this with you that first time years ago,” replied Nico, coaxing a happy little laugh from Karolina.

 

“You're welcome,” replied the blonde, moving her hand slightly to grasp Nico's as they two of them lay flat on their backs, side by side on the large quilt. The pillow and thin blanket sat beside Karolina, ready for when the two of them needed them.

 

“Are you ready?” Nico asked her wife, still keeping her eyes closed.

 

“Yeah,” Karolina replied, her eyes still closed as well.

 

“Okay. Go.”

 

The two of them opened their eyes together. The enormity of the thousands of stars arrayed before them overwhelmed them instantly; the lack of ambient light thanks to the night-time blackout allowed the visualization of many more stars than would normally be seen even in a small town. Far out in the desert terrain of the Hostel, they had been able to see the stars like this, vast and innumerable, but having the chance to do it here on the beach, accompanied with the soft rushing of the tide and the gentle breeze and climate, was a new treat for them.

 

“They're so beautiful,” Nico whispered.

 

“God, yes,” Karolina replied, just as amazed as she was every time they did this. “There's so much more out there than most people realize. I wish they could, though. It'd make most of us see just how petty the things we worry and fight about truly are.”

 

“Maybe one day they will,” Nico whispered back. She shivered once, not from chill but from the raw holiness of this moment shared with her wife, their souls laid open beneath the stars.

 

Karolina's torso lifted up off the blanket, just enough for her to pull her nightshirt over her head. Nico looked up to see the beauty of her wife bare beneath the light of the stars as Karolina balled up her nightshirt and placed it on Nico's side of the quilt, making sure to lean over her wife so as to dangle her breasts over Nico's face.

 

The warmth of Nico's lips against her left breast made Karolina smile. Sometimes Nico was deliciously predictable, especially when it came to Karolina, and the blonde loved it. She exhaled slowly, deliciously, as she felt Nico gently kiss her breast. “Mmm, find something you like?” she asked the dark-haired woman.

 

Nico paused long enough to mumble, “Yeah, a lot,” before Karolina leaned back, leaving Nico's lips reaching for something that was no longer there. “Fucking tease,” Nico whispered, grinning as she sat up, shucking her own nightshirt over her head.

 

“Come over here and it'll be more fucking, less tease,” Karolina replied saucily, a smile of delight on her own face as Nico dropped her nightshirt on the quilt and repositioned her body lengthwise alongside Karolina, her left hand already dropping to her target as Karolina spread her legs in anticipation, turning her own body to face Nico and put her own hands to work.

 

Their bodies and mouths moved with a well-oiled smoothness built of years together, and it only took a few minutes for both women's bodies to tingle with the pin-and-needles heat of coming down from their orgasms. Karolina kept herself from blooming into light, a skill she had learned over the decades with Nico, so as not to ruin their night vision, and the concealment enchantment kept anyone from noticing the two women making love on the beach beneath the stars.

 

As Karolina floated (metaphorically this time) in the afterglow, she blissfully shifted her body to curl against Nico's warmth, reaching over the smaller woman to retrieve their pillow.

 

“Close your eyes,” she said to Nico, then, after Nico complied, she shook the pillow above them to dislodge any sand that might made its way in following their recent movements. “Okay, all done,” she then said, bringing the pillow down as Nico lifted her head, letting Karolina slide the thin pillow beneath their heads.

 

The tall blonde's right arm draped across Nico's torso, Karolina's fingertips tracing slow lines around Nico's small (but perfect, as far as Karolina was concerned) breasts as Nico settled her right arm into position, the upper arm adding to Karolina's head and neck support while the lower arm held Karolina more tightly to Nico, with the small witch's hand finally grasping Karolina's right hip possessively.

 

“Comfy?” Nico said, glancing over to see her wife's still-beautiful face smile back at her.

 

“Much,” Karolina sighed, clearly pleased with things, pulling the thin blanket across their bodies. “Sex with you still feels _so_ fucking good. Fuck. Why don't we do it more often?”

 

“Because we're idiots.”

 

Karolina laughed easily, unknowingly sending tingles skittering up Nico's back. “Well, we're getting better at it as we get older. You should fuck me more.”

 

Nico grinned when looking up at the sky. She loved that Karolina got foul-mouthed during and after sex. It was a solid indicator of how things were going, how much the adorable blonde cursed and swore. “I'm glad I still do it for you, baby,” she said lovingly, turning her head to kiss Karolina's nose.

 

“You sure as hell do. God, you're still so cute.” She carefully shifted her arms a bit, testing something. “I think you got rid of that sore spot between my shoulder blades, too.”

 

“We've had a lot of sex the last two days. A lot of _really_ good sex.”

 

“Sex is always good for me, because it's always with you.” Karolina spoke those words with a weary, content tone in her voice, and it melted Nico's heart.

 

“Aww,” Nico said, turning again to look into Karolina's eyes. “I feel the same way, babe. It feels so much better when it means more than just the physical part.”

 

Karolina's fingers came up to lightly rest on the side of Nico's head. “It is,” she agreed. “It's opening up ourselves—our souls, not just our bodies—that turns sex into something transcendent, into an act of spiritual intimacy, not just physical pleasure.”

 

“It's me giving myself to you,” said Nico softly, staring into Karolina's eyes. “Opening myself to you. And it's you taking that me at my most vulnerable and loving me, not using me or hurting me.”

 

“Yes,” Karolina said, pleased at how Nico had vocalized thoughts she had considered herself over the many years but been unable to adequately distill them into words. “That's _exactly_ how it feels. I feel the same way. And you have _always_ respected me and loved me, Nico, in every possible way.”

 

“Well,” Nico said as distant memories floated up from her subconscious. “I _was_ a bitch to you, for a long time. When we still went to school.”

 

“You and I both know that was your pain, Nico, and it got so much worse for you after Amy. You protected yourself by pushing everyone away.”

 

“Didn't work for you,” Nico said, fighting a silly smile during their discussion of a serious subject.

 

“Nope,” replied Karolina flippantly. She didn't care if she smiled during a serious subject, so she did. “I am _way_ too stubborn to give up after a few weak insults.”

 

“You were always special. And not just to me.”

 

Karolina's eyes glistened slightly. “You were always special too, Nico. Especially to me.” She looked up at the white pinpricks of stars, shining like holes driven through the darkness itself. “You taught me to love the darkness, to find comfort in it, not be afraid of it.”

 

Nico's breath grew slightly ragged as she took a moment to register the warmth of Karolina's body against her own, nothing between them. “You did the same for me with the light, Kar. You taught me that not everyone wanted to hurt me or take advantage of me, and that I didn't have to change who I was to be accepted, that I was good enough just being me.”

 

“Because you're perfect the way you are, Nico Dean,” Karolina said softly as she ran her fingers through Nico's loose hair. She lifted her head so that her lips could meet Nico's; the two of them kissed softly, comfortable in their intimate position without needing anything more.

 

The sounds of low voices nearby made them look over to the side; even though they couldn't be seen, it still felt like a bit of invasion of their private moment.

 

Nico started to mutter his displeasure at the offenders, but Karolina gently silenced her with a press of her fingertips to Nico's lips, with her own lips following immediately thereafter.

 

—O—

 

“I'm worried about Gee waking up and Jimmy panicking,” Lenore whispered to her sisters as they crept down to where the ebbing waves washed onto the beach. “Pers, your kids are older, and Dor, you've got two partners, one for each baby, but what if Jimmy—”

 

“Jimmy will be just fine, Nor,” Persephone whispered back. She glanced over to her left, in the direction of where they had been earlier that morning. She half-expected to find their moms on the beach, looking up at the stars, but there was no sign of them. “He's a good man, and you're both going to be great parents. Have a bit of faith in him, okay?”

 

Lenore sighed but didn't argue.

 

“It's so pretty tonight!” Pandora whispered, looking up at the stars. Being able to see a wider range of the electromagnetic spectrum than just the “visible” light wavelengths made looking up at the stars even more incredible, for the three of them, adding details and colors that couldn't be seen by the typical human and thus didn't have names in any languages normally spoken on Earth.

 

The three young women stopped when their bare feet sunk into wet sand, all three of them standing together, their heads lifted up to stare mostly upward.

 

“It really is beautiful,” Lenore whispered, having to be slightly louder to be heard over the rushing of the incoming waves as it alternated with the brief quiet as the waves broke and trickled onto the sand. “This vacation was a good idea, even if it is taking a risk.”

 

There was an uncomfortable lack of speech for several seconds before Pandora hissed, “I _said_ I was sorry, Nor. What did you want me to do, let a mob kill my wife and husband?!”

 

“Dor, I didn't mean it that way,” said Lenore, her voice pained. “I really didn't. I'm sorry.”

 

She looked around, still feeling like something was just a bit off. She activated her old Eclipse glamour, which she didn't use much anymore, before casting a privacy spell around the three of them. In the blackness of the night, the equally ebon sigils and runes of her magic manifesting under the glamour were invisible, so the only sign of the privacy spell descending over them was the slight tickle all three women felt at the back of their necks.

 

—O—

 

“Nor just put up a privacy spell,” Nico said, letting her body relax from where she had inadvertently tensed up trying to listen to what their daughters had been saying.

 

“Then it's something they're working out between the three of them,” Karolina said quietly. She felt a bit anxious, too, thought she was trying not to admit it. “You can break through her spell, right?”

 

“Well, yeah. But we should let them handle it,” Nico said, slowly exhaling a deep breath. “They're all big girls.”

 

“It's so damn hard sometimes, though,” Karolina muttered.

 

“It is. But we have to do it. That's how they learn, just like we had to.”

 

“Mm.”

 

Nico lifted and turned her head so she could kiss Karolina on her forehead. “Sleep, sexy thing,” she said tenderly, getting a smile on the blonde's lips in return. “It's vacation, remember? We're not supposed to worry about shit.”

 

“Mmm, okay,” Karolina said, sliding her right hand lower down Nico's side. Her hand grazed across Nico's hip before settling on the lithe woman's left thigh.

 

“You get that hand any closer and we're not going to be falling asleep for a while.”

 

Karolina's sleepy smile widened a bit more. “Love it when you talk all sexy,” she mumbled against Nico's neck.

 

—O—

 

“You two don't understand!” said Pandora, trying to not let her frustration send her temper spiraling out of control.

 

“Then help us understand, Dori,” Persephone said, trying to stay calm herself. “There were other ways you could have handled that situation in Las Vegas that didn't involve showing everyone your powers!”

 

“There were _guns_ pointed at my family's _faces!”_ Pandora shot back, the familiar tingle of luminescence starting to bloom across her skin. “WE'RE superheroes! THEY'RE not!”

 

She flung her right hand toward Lenore. “Jimmy's part super-skrull! _And_ he's a sorcerer, like all of us!” She turned to Persephone, shifting her right arm at the same time so that it was now pointing at her oldest sister. “And Gloriana was probably bulletproof before she could tie her shoes!”

 

Dori pulled her arms back in, curling her fingers to poke herself in the chest to indicate she was talking about herself. “MY loved ones, MY family, they're not bulletproof! They can't fly, or cast a protection spell, or take on an angry mob by themselves! If they get shot, they'll _die!”_

 

“Jhil's Majesdanian,” Persephone said, not liking the uncomfortable sensation crawling up her back. “So she can fly and absorb some energy.”

 

“SOME energy!” Pandora replied quickly. “SOME. Other Majesdanians aren't as powerful as we are, Persy, and you know this! Most of them can't even fly! Yes, they're slightly stronger than most humans and heal faster because they can absorb a good chunk of the EM spectrum, but that's pretty much it. That's why Jonah and his family were so fucking powerful there, whatever it was that made their natural powers so much stronger. Yeah, Jhil can fly and doesn't get sunburned. But she can't shield herself from bullets, or rocks. She can't blast someone trying to hurt her or our kids. She could maybe give them a wicked sunburn—”

 

Lenore snorted at that, and despite their heated emotions, even Pandora and Persephone both smiled a bit at the interjection.

 

“—But that's not enough to protect her from an angry mob!” Dori tried to get her heart rate and her emotions to calm down, because she could feel her chest rise and fall rapidly. “I was fucking SCARED, Persy! Alright?!”

 

The oldest and youngest sisters held each other's angry glares for several seconds, while Lenore stayed quiet, watching her sisters closely.

 

“I fucked up,” Pandora said, and her face quivered as tears burst loose from her blue eyes, trickling down her cheeks. “I fucked up, and I outed us to everyone in the whole fucking world, and it's _my fault!_ I know that, Pers!”

 

“Dor, I'm sorry—” Persephone began, only to be cut off by an angry swipe of Pandora's hand.

 

“I know your family's at risk,” Pandora said, wiping away tears with her left hand. “Believe me, my family's more at risk than yours! Lydia and Cori are probably going to be indestructible, right?”

 

“We... We don't know yet. Maybe.”

 

“ _Probably_. They're already showing signs of super strength?”

 

Persephone blew out a breath. “Yeah, they are. Lyd threw a rock through the garage wall the other day. Almost hit the water heater.”

 

“See?! If someone tries to hurt your kids, they'll get the shit beaten out of them by two toddlers!”

 

Lenore snorted again, making both of her sisters look at her.

 

“What?!” asked the black-haired woman defensively. “That was funny!”

 

Dori turned her attention back to Persephone. “Look, I get it, Pers. Believe me, I get it. I seriously made a huge mistake by powering up in front of a bunch of cameras and making a shield to protect my family, and you know what? _I'd do it again.”_

 

“Dor...”

 

“I would, Pers! I'd do it again, in a heartbeat, because I fucking LOVE THEM, with all I have, with all I am! And I'm going to protect them when someone points a gun at them and jeopardizes not just my family's lives, but the lives of dozens of people around us! Because that's what we do, Persy! We fucking PROTECT PEOPLE!”

 

Tears were now streaming down Pandora's face, her cheeks were red and blotchy, she was visibly shaking with emotions, but she refused to back down in front of her big sister.

 

“I'm sorry that I've screwed up the lives of everyone in our family, but I'm not apologizing for protecting my family, or for stopping those assholes before they could shoot anyone. I have fucking _cried myself to sleep_ almost every night for two weeks because of what I did, because of the danger I've put you and your families in, and you can ask Jhil and Ikey if you don't believe me!”

 

Persephone sighed wearily. “I believe you, Dor. I do.”

 

“Mom and Mama kept our identities safe for nearly _thirty years!_ You and Lenore did for years too! And I fucked it up after just a few years of being an adult!” The willowy blonde was trembling now, and Lenore stepped forward to put her arms around Dori, who resolutely accepted the embrace and the support.

 

“I'm always going to be the fuck-up, Persy,” Dori said in a quieter voice. “I know that.”

 

“Dori, you're not a fuck-up,” Persephone argued quietly.

 

Dori nodded quickly. “Yeah, I am. I'm the one who's always had trouble concentrating, remember? I'm the one who's always going to be behind the two of you when it comes to sorcery, and we all know I'm shit at enchanting because I can't focus when I'm trying to sit still.”

 

“You're also the one who could outfly me when you were five years old,” argued Persephone. “You can shape and use your light in ways that Nor and I never could. You spend _hours_ healing people after a disaster or attack, and you can use your light to boost your sorcery to heal more people faster and longer than Nor and I can put together.”

 

“I'm still figuring it out. I mean, it's—“

 

“No, don't you put this down, or put yourself down. After that shooting outside the school in San Diego last month, you went around and healed everyone that had been hurt. I watched you do it. One of the kids was dying— _dying_ , Dori—and you saved his life right there.”

 

Rather than speak, Dori shuffled her bare right foot, digging her toes into the wet sand.

 

Persephone wasn't having her baby sister's dismissive attitude. “That one kid, Dor, you gave him his _life_ back. You kept his family _whole_.” She stepped forward and gently took Pandora's left hand.

 

“I haven't been able to save everyone,” Dori said, swiping at a few tears.

 

“Stop putting so much pressure on yourself! Do you hear yourself, Dori?” Persephone continued to stare at her youngest sister until Dori's blue eyes finally looked up shyly and met her own gaze. “Dor, you help others. That's what you do. You've done a ton of good with helping both Majesdanians and Terrans learn to live with each other, and you coming out as part of both cultures is going to help even more in the long run.”

 

“I just... I just don't know what to do,” admitted Pandora.

 

“Then do what you enjoy,” Persephone replied. “You like helping people. Keep doing that. You love spending time with your family, so keep doing that.”

 

Pandora nodded thoughtfully. “Ms. Stark keeps asking me to help her build a global disaster response team. I'd love to do it, but I don't know how I could be away from my sweeties and my babies for days at a time.”

 

“You've got time to figure it out, Dori,” Lenore said, moving forward.

 

“Yeah, exactly.” Persephone stepped forward as well, holding her arms open in an invitation for Pandora. The slightly shorter blonde moved forward, wrapping her arms around her big sister's body. “Take the time to enjoy your babies, Dori. Believe me, they grow up a lot fucking faster than you think.”

 

“I'm scared,” Dori said softly. “Jhil and Ikey are so great, but we're just kids figuring all this stuff out.”

 

“So were the moms,” said Persephone, placing a kiss on Pandora's braided blonde hair, her lips touching the braid streaked with blue. “They managed to not fuck us up too bad, right?”

 

All three of them laughed at that.

 

“You know...” Lenore said. “Knowing them, they're probably out here right now, enjoying this night and being away from Los Angeles.”

 

“Thought about that. But they've earned it,” Persephone said. “Just like we've earned a little break too.”

 

“I love my babies and my family, but I miss you two,” Pandora said, extending her left arm in Lenore's direction and succeeded in getting her middle sister to come closer and join the sisterly hug.

 

“I know, Bug,” Persephone said, getting a wet laugh from the youngest Dean sister.

 

“You've haven't called me that in years,” said Pandora, and there was an audible tone of longing in her quiet words.

 

“Because you've got a family of your own. You're not a kid any more.”

 

“Maybe not. But I can still be your Bug.”

 

Lenore hissed softly. “Dammit, Dori,” she muttered, freeing her right hand to wipe at her eyes. “Hit us right in the heart, why don't you?”

 

All three of them laughed quietly, relishing the closeness that they had all missed without realizing it.

 

“I'm not apologizing for that,” Pandora said, smiling against Lenore's shoulder. “It's what I do, go for the heart.”

 

“I've missed you both,” Persephone admitted.

 

“We've all missed each other,” Lenore added. “Because we're all busy with our own shit, and now with our own kids.”

 

“Yeah, since you _finally_ figured out how to get pregnant,” teased Dori.

 

Lenore quickly pulled back from her sisters, far enough to look Pandora in the face with a shocked expression. “Rude!” the raven-haired Dean said.

 

“But true!” Pandora shot back, smiling through the tear tracks shining on her cheeks. “The only one of us in a 'traditional' relationship with a man, and _you're_ the last one to get pregnant!”

 

“Speaking of,” Persephone said, as the group hug loosened enough for the three of them to comfortably look at each other. “We have two moms. Jimmy has two dads. How the hell do you and him wind up being straight?!”

 

Lenore laughed, loud enough that it would have startled the sea turtles beginning to make their way onto the dark beach had it not been for the privacy spell around the sisters. “Oh Pers, Jimmy and I have laughed about that for years now!” she said, grinning. “We have no idea! It's just... us!”

 

“Well, we still love you,” Pandora said. “Even if you're straight.”

 

“Hey, look around!” Persephone said, her voice reflexively lowered to a whisper.

 

“Ohmigoddd!” Pandora squeaked as she saw nearly a dozen huge sea turtles sliding slowly across the wet sand. “They're so adorable!”

 

Lenore turned all the way around, taking in the incredible sight. Her voice was tight as she said, “All these mommas, taking this huge risk by laying their eggs here and trusting them to hatch and make it back to the ocean on their own.”

 

The three of them stood quietly for several minutes after that, occasionally wiping away tears of love and concern as the harsh truth washed over them that most of the babies that would be born here wouldn't survive, falling prey to one predator or another.

 

It was a heart-breaking thought, doubly so for three young mothers navigating a world of magic and cosmic powers in addition to the everyday world surrounding them.

 

“Do you think any of the babies ever find their mothers again?” Pandora finally asked.

 

“I think that's a question that's going to make us cry some more,” Persephone said calmly, making both Lenore and Pandora laugh. “Dammit, Dori, where do you come up with some of this stuff?”

 

“I just worry about things like that! I worry about _them!_ I can't help it, okay?”

 

“You have such a big heart, Dor,” Lenore said, tucking a pink and blonde strand of hair behind her little sister's left ear. “You always have.”

 

“It's stupid, I know,” Pandora mumbled, only to feel herself grasped by the shoulders and physically turned around until she was staring into Lenore's intense blue eyes, slightly darker than hers.

 

“It's not stupid,” Lenore said, her face serious. “And neither are you. Okay?”

 

Rather than reply, Pandora looked away, off down the coastline, where she saw even more turtles steadily make their way out of the ocean. “It's just—” began Dori, only to cut herself off.

 

Lenore waited patiently for her sister to continue, catching Persephone's eye and cutting her older sister off with a stern look when Persephone started to open her mouth.

 

Dori would talk when she felt like it. They could wait.

 

“You two have done so much already. You're both incredible,” Pandora finally said, looking back and forth between her older sisters with clear longing.

 

“So are you, Dor,” Persephone said. “You've got more love in your heart than all of us. You're the reason why we're now moving forward and working together with Majesdane to help both planets, because you showed everyone that we _can_ love each other, and that we _can_ build families together.”

 

“Well,” said Pandora, “giving credit where credit's due, I think our moms proved that before we came along.”

 

'Yeah, true,” admitted Persephone, grinning, as Lenore nodded in agreement. “But the moms aren't going to take credit for that. They want to fly under the radar. You're the one who stepped into the spotlight and stood in front of an angry mob to defend the woman you love and the rest of your family from an anti-alien crowd.”

 

“And you're the one who stopped that crowd without resorting to violence or threats,” said Lenore. “That's huge, Dor, and people around the world—well, both worlds—are being inspired by what you've done. You stood up to hate and violence without resorting to the same. You told everyone who's seen the video that we don't have to put up with hatred, we don't have to accept it or treat it like it deserves respect or consideration.”

 

“It doesn't,” said Pandora quietly. “Its only purpose is to hurt and destroy.”

 

“And you're the opposite of that,” Persephone said proudly. “So keep being you, and we'll keep supporting you and being proud of you.”

 

“Love you both,” Pandora said, her lower lip quivering with emotion as she threw her arms around her sisters' necks, nearly cracking their heads together with her sudden movement.

 

“Love you too, Bug,” Persephone replied softly as she felt Lenore put her arms around her and Pandora again.

 

The three no-longer-kids stood quietly for several minutes, enjoying the closeness they had all missed without realizing it.

 

“I think I need to get some sleep,” Persephone finally said. “Up way too early this morning, because Lyd and Cori woke Goga and me up at five.”

 

“You didn't put them back in bed?” asked Pandora.

 

“Tried. Even locked our bedroom door. Lydia snapped the door handle clean off.”

 

“But it's only a _maybe_ on the super strength?” Pandora asked knowingly.

 

Persephone looked a bit chagrined. “I was trying to get out of admitting it, okay?”

 

Pandora peered closely at her oldest sister for several seconds. “Well, at least you're honest,” she finally said, softening her expression. “Even if you are a shit-head.”

 

“How's being a mom?” Persephone asked, turning to Lenore.

 

“Exhausting. Had a good talk with the moms this morning, though. Apparently the first few months are hell for everyone.”

 

“Well, no shit,” replied Persephone. “Wait until they start to climb. And fly.”

 

“You're supposed to encourage me,” Lenore said, playing at offense.

 

Persephone smiled. “The encouraging part is when you're sit down because it's been a rough day and the last thing you want to do is be Mommy again, and one of them climbs up onto your lap, gives you a hug and says, 'I love you.' That makes it all worth it.”

 

“Absolutely,” Pandora added, nodding. “It's an incredible feeling. You'd do anything for that little creature in your arms.”

 

“I already would,” Lenore admitted, feeling her eyes tear up. “I've missed this,” she said softly. “I've missed you two.”

 

“Me too,” said Dori.

 

“It's no one's fault but ours,” Persephone said. “And I've missed you both too.”

 

“Well, we've got a week, right?” said Dori, smiling. “Assumed the ocean doesn't catch on fire or something.”

 

“ _Shut up!”_ both Lenore and Persephone hissed at their little sister, who grinned, turned and ran for the safety of her suite.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Afterword: Alright. I apologize for the ridiculous amount of time it took for me to complete and post this chapter. So what happened?
> 
>  
> 
> Well, to put it bluntly, this chapter dug in its heels and refused to do anything I had planned. I didn't like how it read, so I rewrote it. It still didn't sound right, so I rewrote it again. And again. And again. I scrapped entire chunks. I added more. I took what I had planned for the second half of this chapter and made an entirely separate chapter just for it, because I could not get it to mesh with what the first half of the chapter.
> 
>  
> 
> In the end, I just had to accept that I wasn't going to improve any more upon this chapter. It wanted to be a relatively gentle chapter to let everyone relax and just enjoy the moment, and it wore me down until I gave in.
> 
>  
> 
> Again, I'm sorry for the delay. I'll do my best to get the last two chapters to behave themselves so we can get this story wrapped up. Thank you for reading, and thank you for being patient. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	10. Tear My Heart Out, Why Don't You?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, a warning. This chapter takes a dark turn, and some deaths occur. It was not an easy chapter to write, and that's part of why it's taken so long for me to finish. Please hang in there and read the whole chapter.
> 
> Since it's already taken me forever to get this chapter up, I'm going ahead and posting it now. Please be merciful if any typos slip through at first. I'll proof it again and correct any errors over the next 24 hours.

_Saw Cinderella in a party dress_

_She was looking for a nightgown_

_I saw the devil wrapping up his hands_

_He's getting ready for the showdown_

_I saw the ending when they turned the page_

_I threw my money and I ran away_

_Straight to the valley of the great divide_

_Out where the dreams all hide_

_Out here the wind don't blow_

_Out here the good girls die_

_And the sky won't snow_

_Out here the birds don't sing_

_Out here the field don't grow_

_Out here the bell don't ring_

_Out here the bell don't ring_

_Out here the good girls die_

 

\--The Killers, “A Dustland Fairytale”

 

 

—O—

—O—

 

“Does this seem strange to you?”

 

At the question, Nico Minoru looked up at the large mirror, shifting her gaze over her shoulder to her wife of twenty-eight years. She openly admired Karolina's bare back as the tall blonde pulled the sleeves of her pink gown over her arms, sequins glittering in the light of their bedroom. “Which part?” replied the shorter woman, trying not to smile. “Us still living in an abandoned mansion-slash-fallout-shelter?”

 

“No, silly.”

 

“The fact that we went from barely speaking to each other in high school to falling in love to living together almost thirty years without killing each other?”

 

“Well, that _is_ remarkable, especially with your attitude some days, but no, that isn't what I was talking about.”

 

A smile flashed across Nico's face, completely unbidden; she quickly made it go away, but when her brown eyes flicked up to look in the mirror again, she saw a smirk on Karolina's face that meant Nico had been caught.

 

“I saw that, you know,” said the blonde as she moved to hover just behind Nico, towering over the black-haired woman still seated on the small vanity bench.

 

“Saw what?” Nico asked blithely, returning her attention to her makeup, carefully drawing a bold line of silver outward from her right eye to match her left.

 

Karolina bent down, a lone golden loop earring dangling from her right ear, so that her lips were right above Nico's right ear. “That smile, you sneaky little witch,” the blonde said softly, meeting Nico's gaze in the mirror before the blonde's face burst into a dazzling grin. Karolina placed a soft kiss on the top of Nico's ear, then stood back up again, retrieving her second earring. “You're getting soft, Nico.”

 

“I blame you,” Nico replied, delighted when a faux expression of shock appeared on Karolina's face. Now the witch smiled openly as she looked straight up and over her shoulder at the woman she loved with everything she was. “And I'm _so_ glad that you've done this to me,” she added, the words softly spoken but heartfelt. “I used to be such a bitch.”

 

“Well, you still have your moments,” Karolina said, bending down and holding her lips just above Nico's, hesitating long enough to make the raven-haired woman strain upward to press their lips together before smiling and giving in to the kiss.

 

The feeling of one of Nico's hands grasping her right buttock and the other hand lifting the skirt of Karolina's gown before sliding up the blonde's bare thigh made Karolina's eyes widen and her heart skip a beat. “Hello,” she mumbled awkwardly against Nico's lips, right before she felt familiar fingertips brush against the thin silk of her underwear in a very delicate spot. “Nico!” Karolina blurted out, grinning against Nico's still-pursuing lips as the shorter woman held the blonde in place with her other hand. “Stop! You're going to make me ruin this dress!”

 

“We can clean it,” replied Nico coolly as her fingertips continued to softly stroke their target, making Karolina squirm more than a bit. “Or fix it, if it rips.”

 

Karolina's body bloomed into light as the blonde floated upward, wiggling her way out of the grip of her wife, whom she made a point _not_ to include in her light field so she could make her escape. “We're supposed to be there in twenty minutes!” Karolina said, looking down at Nico, who looked clearly disappointed. “In Hollywood!”

 

“We can literally be there in seconds,” Nico answered. “Tease.”

 

“Uh!” Karolina gasped, her mouth open. “ _I'm_ the tease?! You were just about to slide your finger—”

 

“Exactly! _I_ wasn't planning on stopping, so _I_ wasn't teasing.” Nico folded her arms across the laced corset top of her black dress. “ _You're_ the one who's playing hard-to-get.”

 

Karolina floated back down to the ground, but she didn't turn off her luminescence as she walked back over to Nico. The short witch didn't budge from her tightly-gathered position, bare arms and black-stocking-clad legs both crossed. The tiered tulle-and-lace skirt of the black dress hinted at a ballerina's tutu with its slight poofiness, presenting a contrast to the sleek but sharply lined sleeveless front-laced black leather corset top.

 

“Your dress is really hot,” Karolina said, not hiding her smile.

 

“So's yours,” Nico replied, her voice flat, but the upturned corner of her left eye indicated definite interest to Karolina's experienced eye, well-versed in Nico Dean's subtle expressions and tones of voice after being married to her for almost two-thirds of their lives.

 

Karolina shifted her body position slightly as she turned off her glow, so that Nico could better appreciate the way the sleeveless V-neck column gown clung to her body, pink microbeads and silver sequins shimmering in the sunlight streaming through the high windows of their room. “So you like it?” Karolina asked, turning and looking over her shoulder as Nico admired the large triangular cutout that exposed a large amount of Karolina's lower back.

 

“Um, yeah,” Nico said, her eyes fixed on the muscles that shifted in the blonde's lower back as Karolina moved. “It's... nice.”

 

“ _Just_ nice?”

 

Nico stood quickly, walking over to where Karolina stood. She slipped her arms around her wife's waist, pulling the taller blonde back against her, getting a sigh of contentment from the taller woman as their bodies pressed together. Nico stood on her tiptoes, as she hadn't put her boots on yet, lifting her mouth against Karolina's neck to softly say, “I like you in that dress so much that I want to fuck you in it.”

 

She smiled as she felt Karolina's body shiver in her embrace.

 

“Jesus, Nico,” Karolina breathed out, her heart abruptly thrumming. “Cut right to the chase, why don't you?”

 

“You wanted to know if I thought you looked nice in your dress, right?”

 

“Y-yeah, but—”

 

“I do,” Nico whispered. “Think you look nice.”

 

They paused for several seconds, the moment seething with energy between them, then Nico stepped back and lightly pushed Karolina away.

 

“Oh, but I have to finish getting ready,” said the jet-haired witch, a truly wicked smile on her face as Karolina whirled around to look at her.

 

“Nico!” Karolina pleaded, a definite note of whining in her voice.

 

“Hey, I'm a tease, remember?” replied Nico, still smiling as she retreated back to the vanity bench to finish her makeup.

 

“You're a shit,” Karolina shot back, unable to keep from smiling despite her body's mounting frustration.

 

“But you still love me,” replied Nico confidently as she swiveled to face the mirror again.

 

A glow of pink and yellow light reflected in Nico's mirror as Karolina swooped forward and draped her arms across Nico's shoulders. The luminescent blonde kissed the top of Nico's head. “But I still love you,” she agreed. “Tease.”

 

—O—

 

Nico and Karolina flew out of the portal that appeared in the center of the first O in the iconic _HOLLYWOOD_ sign on the hills overlooking Los Angeles and its neighborhoods. With their identities now public knowledge after the events of the last year, Nico and Karolina had become more careful with moving between the Hostel and Los Angeles, no longer flying openly between their home and elsewhere.

 

There were some benefits, though, to not having to protect their identities any more. Being invited to dinner at the Magic Castle happened to be one of them.

 

“I'm excited about this!” Karolina said as she carried Nico in her arms, their usual bridal-style, as they flew high above the hills, streets and buildings below. A concealment spell kept them invisible, preserving Nico's modesty (such as it was) with her current outfit and its rather short skirt.

 

“I actually kind of am too,” Nico admitted. “It was a bit weird being invited out of the blue to some awards ceremony, but I love an opportunity to get dressed up and go out with you just for fun.”

 

“Aw,” Karolina said happily. She placed a quick kiss on Nico's temple, trying not to leave a lipstick mark, as Nico checked their position on the phone's GPS. “I love that too.”

 

“Okay, there it is,” Nico said, looking up from her Wizard AM-14 phone. She pointed below them to a large chateau on a hill, rising above the more mundane buildings and streets surrounding it. The sun was beginning to set over Southern California, and lights scattered around the vaguely castle-like building provided striking illumination all around the Castle, beaming upward toward the two women as they began to descend.

 

A handful of men dressed in suits or jackets and slacks and a smaller number of women in dresses and gowns were gathered around the entrance to the Magic Castle as Nico dropped the concealment spell and Karolina shifted from her flying position to an upright position as she neared the ground, Nico still held to her chest bridal-style. Karolina's pink light splashed across the Castle's stone walls as she lowered Nico's legs, easing her wife into a standing position matching her own as Nico adjusted her skirt. Once Nico's black leather boots were firmly situated on the ground, Karolina turned off her luminescence, but by that point everyone outside the Castle was staring directly at them.

 

“Hi,” Karolina said, smiling as she offered a friendly wave to the observers.

 

Nico looked at her cheery wife, then looked back at the crowd, ranging from stylish men and women in their mid-twenties to more weathered and grizzled men and women (but mostly men) in their fifties and sixties. She sighed audibly, then took Karolina's hand as she started walking toward the double wooden doors of the Castle's entrance.

 

The liveried doorman regarded the two women politely but stoicly. “Membership identification or guest passes, please. Guest passes must be fully filled out.”

 

“We're supposed to pick them up here,” Nico said, looking up at the tall man, several centimeters taller than Karolina. “We were invited as special guests tonight. Nico and Karolina Dean.”

 

“You must present membership identification or fully-completed guest passes to enter the Academy of Magical Arts,” the man said, expression tightening slightly.

 

“Yeah, we got that the first time,” Nico replied. “And like I said the first time, we were invited as special guests of the Academy tonight. I'm Nico Dean. This is my wife Karolina. I'm the Sorcerer Supreme.”

 

Snickers were audible among the people gathered behind and around them. Nico barely resisted the urge to turn around and set someone on fire.

 

The doorman's expression wavered briefly before he looked down at Nico again. “Is that your stage name? Sorcerer Supreme?”

 

Nico's eyes narrowed slightly as she stared at the man. “No, it's my job title. Do you think you can find someone who'll recognize us and _give us the guest passes that are supposed to be waiting for us inside?”_

 

The man held his position, not speaking or moving.

 

“Look, we really were invited,” said Karolina, trying to defuse the brewing situation. “I can show—”

 

“Fuck this,” Nico snapped. She raised her hands and moved her fingers into peculiar positions. Instantly purple light formed around her hands and arms, mystic sigils and runes forming out of thin air and hovering like smoke caught in projected light for a brief second before drifting away.

 

Karolina looked around, but nothing was frozen, on fire, melting or screaming. At least not that she could detect. “What'd you do, hon?” she asked quietly, glancing at Nico.

 

The smile on Nico's face was thin but readily visible, and Karolina recognized that expression. Whatever it was her wife was doing, someone wasn't going to like it, but Nico was going to enjoy it quite a bit.

 

“Nico?”

 

Nico glanced up at the blonde.

 

“What are you doing, hon?”

 

Nico didn't reply verbally, instead lifting her left eyebrow in a silent gesture that Karolina recognized as _Play along and give it time_. The blonde replied by taking her smaller wife's hand in a tactile show of support.

 

“Sometimes you're exhausting,” Karolina whispered quietly, smiling despite her words.

 

“You still love me,” Nico replied quietly.

 

“That's true. How long will I have to wait to—OH!”

 

The fluttering of wings beside and behind her head made Karolina jump, but the movement didn't prevent the bright yellow bird from landing on her mostly bare shoulder, taking care not to grip her bare skin too tightly with its claws as it fluttered its wings and settled into a seated position.

 

“Hi,” Karolina said easily to the small goldfinch, which chirped cheerily as she regarded it.

 

More fluttering heralded another bird landing on Karolina's left shoulder, this one a scarlet cardinal that likewise chirped happily.

 

Louder flapping beside her made Karolina turn to look at Nico as a large, glossy bird with feathers as jet as Nico's hair landed on the smaller woman's shoulder. It was either a crow or raven, but Karolina couldn't tell which.

 

More movement made Karolina look to her left now, as a small deer brushed against her side, its tawny fur soft as velvet as Karolina reached down and stroked the creature's neck; it seemed to appreciate the attention, judging by the way it leaned into the tall blonde's side. Two squirrels then ran along the ground, coming to a stop just in front of the deer, followed by a large brown hare lazily hopping after them.

 

When Karolina turned to look at Nico again, she saw more birds gathering with a large white-tipped falcon on Nico's right shoulder now, as well as a half-dozen more deer, both with and without antlers, gathering beside Nico. A brown bear ambled up to take a position beside the witch, though it appeared as placid as the other animals that were gathering around them.

 

The doorman started to look uncomfortable as the woodland creatures continued to gather, quickly forming a throng around the two women in elegant evening gowns, who appeared entirely unbothered by the creatures crowding in around them.

 

Cats and dogs began to appear now, all moving to sit or prowl easily around the feet and legs of the two women who continued to stand before the doorman. A few beavers joined the assemblage, then a dozen squirrels. More songbirds, blue and green and orange and brown, all chirping and trilling, fluttered into nearby branches or eaves, with the exception of one particularly bold bluebird that perched on the doorman's left shoulder.

 

“Cute trick,” said the large man, determined to not exhibit any unease despite the admittedly unnerving sight of scores of animals that had now gathered around the two women, acting very oddly polite and docile as they all seemed to turn their attention toward him. “What are you two, Disney princesses or something?” he asked.

 

Nico looked up at him, and the slow widening of her cool smile made the doorman strangely unsettled, like a predator whose prey had just stumbled at her feet.

 

“My _wife's_ the Disney princess,” the petite witch said easily, holding the man's attention as she paused for a few heartbeats, during which it felt like time itself stilled.

 

When the eyes of all the gathered creatures, avian and reptile and mammal alike, suddenly turned the glowing red-orange of hot coals as they turned to peer intently at him, the doorman very nearly wet himself.

 

Mouths and snouts and beaks all opened slightly to show fine, needle-like teeth, even the songbirds and downy deer. The throng of animals began to hiss and growl disquietingly, and several of them began to softly paw at the ground and sway with eagerness as they focused their undivided attention on the terrified man, who now visibly trembled and shook.

 

Now the dark-haired woman's cold smile widened.

 

“As for me, I'm _not_ a Disney princess,” Nico said, still smiling but speaking with a voice as sharp and hard as a naked blade. “I'm more like a Disney _villain_.”

 

One of the rabbits around the doorman's feet clacked its small but sharp teeth as it looked up at him hungrily, making him reflexively take a step back. He looked back up at the scores of brightly glowing red eyes gazing intently at him, flanking the two middle-aged but still quite attractive women.

 

“Now,” Nico said to the doorman, as his eyes keep nervously glancing around at the numerous sets of eyes and teeth that were beginning to slowly close in around him. “Let's try this again, shall we?”

 

—O—

 

Despite the initial conflict with the doorman (or _especially_ because of that conflict, according to Nico), it turned out to be a fun night.

 

Karolina was delighted with the performances they saw over the next three hours, both on small stages dedicated for performances and at informal tables set up in seemingly every hallway and room. Despite the initial ordeal of gaining admittance (which Nico remained convinced was a performance as well, to test her own showmanship and professional acumen), once inside the club, everyone was jovial, welcoming and eager to meet the two women.

 

Though the type of magic Nico did was thoroughly different than the art of magic practiced by the members of the Magic Castle, there was a distinct element of professionalism and polite curiosity that permeated each conversation Nico and Karolina had that evening. Karolina had to admit that she was utterly unable to discern how most of the magicians they met plied their trade, and at one point Nico quietly confessed suspecting a handful of people they met that evening were practicing more than just stage magic, given some of the impossible card tricks they had witnessed.

 

In return, Nico displayed a few minor bits of sorcery, animating a table and some chairs at one point, temporarily transmuting objects into something else entirely, then finally making cards shuffle themselves before dealing Karolina a straight flush during a few hands of poker filled with so much admittedly good-natured cheating that Hoyle himself would have blushed.

 

When the evening finally ended at well after midnight, Nico was smiling as she and Karolina finally exited the Castle, Karolina lovingly holding onto Nico's arm with both her hands.

 

“Oh my god, that was so much _fun_!” the blonde said happily. “Thank you for taking me here!”

 

“You are most welcome,” Nico replied, patting her wife's hands. “Have to admit, I enjoyed that a lot more than I was expecting.”

 

“That was really nice of you to heal that one guy's hand, too.”

 

“He still shouldn't have tried to steal your clutch, even if it was as a joke.”

 

“He learned that the hard way. Zippy is very protective of my things.”

 

“That's why I left my wallet in the astral. Zippy bites just deep enough to warn them, because he's nice.”

 

“Because he spends so much time around me,” Karolina said quickly.

 

“Yeah, probably. Fangs, on the other hand, isn't so forgiving to people who try to take my shit.”

 

“Biting someone's fingers off wouldn't have made the best impression tonight, so I'm glad you went the subtle route.”

 

“Know your audience.”

 

“Mmm. Want to get ice cream?”

 

“This late? It'll go straight to my ass.”

 

“So will I, if you buy me ice cream.”

 

“... Sounds fair.”

 

—O—

 

When Nico's forty-sixth birthday rolled around a few days later, Karolina was the one who woke up early, as she wanted to get a head start on her plans for surprising Nico. Plus it was always nice taking a moment to appreciate the openness and unlimited potential of a new day, to watch the sun creep its way above its horizontal prison, before life had a chance to muck it all up.

 

She got up and made herself a cup of hot orange spice tea, adding a teaspoon of honey before slowly making her way outside, blowing on the cup of tea as she used her ultraviolet vision to navigate her way through the darkness of the Hostel. Dawn was still crowning over the horizon, and the shadows filling the rooms of the Hostel hadn't yet yielded to the morning light, making the entire residence seem oddly still.

 

It was quiet here now, as Gert and Chase were on vacation with their boys and two of the dinosaurs, Molly and her wife Katie were touring colleges with their daughter, now a junior in high school and a living testament to how fast kids grew up, and Alex and Livvie had moved into the Wilder family home nearly twenty years ago, after the birth of their first child.

 

Karolina had thought it was strange that Alex would willingly live in a home connected to a ritual chamber where their parents had murdered over a dozen teenagers. However, none of them were their parents, and all of the trappings associated with the murders committed by PRIDE had been destroyed, dismantled or removed before Alex would let his wife or child set foot on the grounds of his old home. Nico had sealed off the now-empty sacrificial chamber with powerful wards, but just knowing that the space still existed was enough to make Karolina uncomfortable on the times they visited.

 

If it had been up to Karolina, she'd have filled the whole chamber and the passages connecting to it with concrete and been done with it, because sometimes the simplest solutions were the best.

 

They each had to find their own way, Karolina supposed, as she illuminated and flew up to the ceiling in the main room, snaking her way through the narrow, twisty path in the rocks that were the ceiling of their home before she emerged in the soft orange glow of the Southern California sunrise. She closed her eyes and smiled as she felt the warmth of the sun wash over her body, energizing her cells and lifting her spirits as it did each morning. She hovered there just over the uneven surface of the bluff that provided both the roof and insulation for the Hostel, enjoying the aroma of her spicy orange tea as she lifted the mug to her lips, taking a careful sip of the hot liquid.

 

She was taking Nico to lunch today, after which they were going to stop by the Gibborim Crater campus to see Pandora's daughters, Sabrina and Blair, with 'Brina now one-and-a-half and Blair five months old. Pandora and her family had recently moved into Leslie's old house, the home where Karolina grew up, with Karolina's blessing. Truthfully, Karolina had never been able to go back into her old home, not after Leslie's death at the hands of Jacob, Karolina's younger brother, several years ago.

 

Leslie had discovered that Jacob had been plotting to take control of the Gibborim organization away from her and Karolina, with plans to turn the organization away from its charitable work with children, immigrants and Majesdanian refugees and steer it back to being a shady but lucrative quasi-religion. When Leslie had confronted Jacob, he had erupted in a fit of rage, nearly incinerating her in a blast of light before going on to drain the life of a dozen Gibborim members and start a destructive rampage through Los Angeles while in his overcharged state.

 

It had taken Karolina, Nico, Chase and Molly all working together to keep him focused on them and distracted long enough for Alex, Old Lace and Gert to close within range of Gert's psychic powers, so she could lock down Jacob's mind and bring his chaos to a close.

 

The fallout of Jacob's actions had severely damaged Majesdane's image in the eyes of most Terrans, giving fuel to those concerned about working with the other planet. Despite the loss of her mother, Karolina couldn't let her family kill her brother, so while the rest of the world was told Jacob had died in the battle, instead he was locked away in a stasis pod inside an underground vault at the Crater facility, then the entire vault was sealed with magical wards placed by Nico. Only a handful of staffers were allowed to monitor the vault, each of them personally selected by Karolina or Pandora, who was increasingly taking on more duties with the Gibborim and the charities managed by the Gibborim organization.

 

Pandora was currently in San Francisco discussing the next steps in expanding PRIDE's Embrace program, an outreach uniting Terrans and Majesdanians with student exchange programs and interplanetary connections between communities. While she, her wife Jhil and their husband Isaac were at the working conference for the entire day, toddler Sabrina and baby Blair were staying in the nursery wing at Crater.

 

Relations between Earth and Majesdane had slowly begun to thaw in the years after Jacob's rampage, though there were certainly groups on both worlds who remained vocal about furthering any ties that might “pollute” their cultures. Several Earth nations continued to rattle sabers at the thought of any country besides them gaining access to the advanced technology of the Majesdanians, despite the Majesdanian pledges to not share any form of weaponry with any Terran power.

 

The main scientific exchanges over the decade of cooperation between the two worlds remained Majesdane helping Earth reverse the effects of anthropogenic climate change with new methods of energy production and mitigation of the carbon-induced greenhouse effect and, in return, Earth helping Majesdane unravel their planet's increasing rate of lethal genetic mutations and chromosomal abnormalities in the hopes of stabilizing the fraying Majesdanian genome.

 

It was still a precarious _detente_ , but at least things were looking up, and Karolina was proud that her family was helping drive that cooperation and acceptance.

 

Karolina's thoughts were brought back to the present by the notes of “Walking on Sunshine” ringing out from the cell phone in the pocket of her pajama pants.

 

“What's the number, Wizzy?” Karolina said aloud as she retrieved the phone from her pocket but kept the device in her hand at her hip, humming happily as kept her face turned into the sun's radiation.

 

“Crater facility,” said the smartphone's feminine voice. “Caller is identified as Vaughn Kay.”

 

“Accept, on speaker.”

 

“Confirmed.”

 

“Hi Vaughn! Everything okay with the little ones?”

 

“ _Oh, yeah, they're great,”_ Vaughn replied, but he sounded a bit distracted. _“Not used to having all five of them at once, but the new babies are adorable.”_

 

“All five?”

 

“ _Uh, yeah. Dori's in San Francisco for the conference with Jhil and Isaac, of course, and Persephone dropped off her two super early this morning, because she and Gloriana were off to Mexico to help with that earthquake that hit overnight, then Lenore dropped little Gee-Gee off just like an hour ago, said she had to go take care of something that had just come up, then—”_

 

“Thank you for the summary, Vaughn,” Karolina interjected, trying not to get frustrated at Vaughn's rambling. He meant well, and she knew that. “Who's watching them today?”

 

“ _Lucero and Vanessa. So, uh, Karolina, can I ask you something?”_

 

“Luci and Vanessa are the _best_. Nico and I both love them. And yes, ask away. What's on your mind?”

 

“ _Well, we sort of have something that's happened that I think you and Nico_ might _need to see.”_

 

“She's still asleep, but I can go wake her up. What is it?”

 

“ _Well, I know this is going to sound crazy, but... there's this giant bald guy standing on top of the mountain, looking down at Crater.”_

 

Karolina felt her heart stop momentarily. “Wh-what? What did you say?”

 

There was a sigh before Vaughn's next words. _“Yeah, yeah, it's nuts, I know, but it's this bald white guy, like the Jolly Green Giant but a caucasian version, you know? Looks like he's as tall a football field's long, at least. He's wearing a white robe and just keeps staring right at the facility. It's, uh, kind of creeping everybody out.”_

 

“Has he... Has he said anything? Or done anything?”

 

“ _No, he's just_ there _, you know? Standing there all quiet, like he's waiting for something.”_

 

“Or watching,” Karolina spoke, her lips going numb as she processed the possibilities.

 

“ _I know, right? I guess that's southern California for—”_

 

Karolina's phone fell to the grass-covered rocks below, the dull gray vibranium case rescuing the phone from anything more than a scuffed screen as the now-glowing blonde streaked through the rocks back into the Hostel and toward her and Nico's bedroom, screaming her wife's name the whole way.

 

—O—

 

The arid heat struck Nico and Karolina both as they shot through the glowing purple portal, emerging in the desert less than a quarter of a mile from Crater.

 

“Oh, fuck, Nico,” Karolina swore as her eyes affixed to the Watcher, who was indeed standing vigil on the small mountain that rose above the Gibborim Crater facility. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

 

“That is definitely a Watcher,” Nico said flatly, her eyes focusing briefly on the same towering figure as Karolina flew less than a meter above the desert.

 

“How serious is this, on a scale of one to ten?”

 

“Solid nine-and-a-half. Maybe ten.”

 

“FUCK!”

 

“It's not necessarily something _bad_ , Kar. It just indicates a matter of cosmic importance when a Watcher—”

 

“Nico, hon, I love you, but please stop trying to make me feel better for just a few seconds, okay?”

 

Nico nodded, trying her best not to let Karolina see just how terrified she was, too.

 

Both women jumped (as much as they could while flying) when Nico's phone went off. Nico leaned away from Karolina slightly so she could retrieve her phone from a pocket hidden at the top of her black dress's long skirt. The simple gothic dress had wide, flowing long sleeves, a short stand-up collar and pearl buttons studding the button-up front. A splash of silver was added by two thin studded black leather belts wrapped high around her waist and along to sag slightly to one side, several silver necklaces and a half-dozen silver rings varying from flowers to stars and dragons.

 

It had only taken seconds for Nico to change clothes with her magic; she had learned to keep outfits prepared for sudden use, and that included Karolina waking her up by yanking her out of bed while frantically shouting Nico's name.

 

“It's Lenore,” Nico said aloud, eyeing the display before accepting the call. “Hey,” she said into the phone, right before her ears registered shrieks and shouts coming from the phone's speaker.

 

“ _Hell is breaking loose!”_ the middle daughter shouted from somewhere near the phone. _“Literally, I mean!”_

 

“Okay,” Nico replied, right before the call ended on Lenore's end. “I'm finding her,” Nico said to Karolina as she started a locating spell for Lenore; when it instantly returned a location, Nico was caught off-guard.

 

“Weird. She's just right over there,” Nico said, pointing over her head behind her, in a direction heading away from Crater. Karolina immediately banked hard to her left, holding the tight turn until they were pointed in the direction Nico was indicating.

 

“Vaughn said that Nor dropped Gee off early this morning,” Karolina said. “But he wasn't sure where she had to go.”

 

“Well, there isn't shit in this direction until you hit ocean,” Nico replied as she expanded her mystic awareness and was instantly smacked with a fierce sense of foreboding, coupled with the smell of fresh blood and the bitter taste of grave dirt. “Whoa,” she said, a bit breathlessly.

 

“What?”

 

“That's some serious shit, whatever she's in the middle of. Turn it on, Kar. We need to be there _now_.”

 

They didn't hear the sonic boom left in their wake as Karolina accelerated. What Karolina _could_ hear was the trepidation in her wife's voice, and that made her more nervous than Nico's actual words.

 

—O—

 

 _The day had started so promising_ , Lenore thought to herself as she focused her will into holding the tear in reality in place, keeping the breach between dimensions from growing any larger. She was holding her ground on this front, keeping the bleeding edges of reality in place, much to the chagrin of the furious cultists scurrying about on the ground below her.

 

However, this meant she was unable to quell the surge of chthonic grotesqueries currently flooding through the dimensional breach, seeping and spreading across the baked earth of the desert like an oily stain oozing outward.

 

“Where did all you little shits come from,” Lenore grumbled to herself as she tried one spell after another, trying to stitch the laceration in reality back together. “And how did you get this far along?”

 

It was a cult she recognized. She had dealt with the Servants of the Yellow Sign before, but they had never been this powerful. Subtle, yes, which was odd for a Yellow Sign cult, but the Servants had always done a good job of concealing their homicidal insanity, so that wasn't new. But like most of the Elder God cults, they had always tended to tear themselves apart before reaching a level of power like this.

 

Of course, Lenore and her mothers had helped them implode a few times. This time, however, implosion wasn't going to be good enough for them, not with them literally threatening reality. Lenore was going to wipe every single member of this cult out, even if her mom, who was always the optimist, disapproved.

 

—O—

 

“Holy _fuck_ ,” Nico hissed as she and Karolina cleared the top of the ridge bordering the arroyo, revealing the kilometer-wide swell of squirming black forms scuttling across the reds and golds of the desert earth. “How did I not feel this?!”

 

“Can you feel it now?” Karolina asked, not liking that something this massive could take place in their backyard without registering on Nico's mystic senses.

 

“No!” Nico hissed back. “And that bothers me just as much as all this bullshit down below!”

 

On the other side of the glistening black tide of malformed monstrosities, the green glow of their middle daughter hovered in the air, poised directly in front of a shifting and sliding image, nearly fifty meters in diameter, of darkness and a purple sheen unnatural to this dimension.

 

“Lenore's holding it,” Karolina said with audible relief. “Wow, that's a big breach.”

 

Nico nodded, flexing the fingers of both hands to loosen them up. “Yeah, something else I should have felt, even in a fucking _coma_.” She looked up at Karolina. “Drop me in the middle of those squiggly fuckers down below. I'll round 'em up for you.”

 

“You want me to supernova them?” asked Karolina, a bit surprised.

 

Nico nodded. “When it comes to things that walked right out of Lovecraft's visions, your light's more efficient at burning them up then even my magic.” She opened her left hand; immediately the Staff of One manifested in her grip, its ebony wood nearly as familiar to her touch as Karolina herself. “I'll check out the gate on the way down, then get all the little shits gathered up for you.”

 

“Not sure how strong my charge is. That's a _lot_ of nightmare fuel down there, and I haven't gotten much sun yet.”

 

“I'll send a boost your way,” Nico replied as Karolina decelerated as they drew near. “Or you could go ahead and get some right now.”

 

“That... makes me nervous, hon,” Karolina said softly. “I don't ever want to take any of your life.”

 

“I know. But you're not _taking_ it from me; I'm giving it freely. And if I'm hurting a bit, it makes my magic stronger, too. Win-win.”

 

Karolina took another look beneath them. It was a LOT of gibbering, inhuman creatures, thousand if not tens of thousands, and she got the willies just looking at them from two hundred meters up. Even at this distance, she could see spines, fur, tentacles, claws and a ubiquitous gross black-green sheen on everything that made her stomach turn.

 

And of course her brave, stubborn wife was planning on dropping right into the middle of all that insanity.

 

“Okay,” Karolina said. “But if you can spare a boost, too...”

 

Nico grinned, her black-painted lips opening to show the contrast of her white teeth. “I got your back, sexy,” she said confidently, as she wrapped her right hand and arm around the back of Karolina's head, pulling the blonde's head down as she lifted her own head up until their lips met.

 

Nico could feel the tension in her wife's neck and arms, so she tightened her grip on Karolina's head slightly as they kissed. The blonde's body responded eagerly to Nico's tactile input, rising to the increased stimulation; with a quick intake of breath, Karolina deepened the kiss and squeezed Nico tighter in return, relinquishing the apprehension the blonde felt at draining some of Nico's life energy.

 

As life began to flow from Nico into the blonde, Nico felt the cold ache settle into her muscles and bones as her skin shivered. She didn't fight it or hide from it; instead she focused on it, latched onto the discomfort, the sense of some of her life being pulled away from her, the sudden loss of warmth that she willingly surrendered to empower Karolina.

 

The bone-deep ache remained as Karolina stopped the flow of energy from Nico into her; her blue eyes were wide with concern as they opened once more, inspecting Nico's slightly ashen face for any signs that she had taken too much, that she had seriously hurt the woman she loved.

 

“I'm good,” Nico whispered, shivering involuntarily once. “Hurts just enough.” She met Karolina's emotional gaze, those beautiful blue eyes watering slightly as guilt and love shone through the impending tears. “You took exactly the right amount, baby,” Nico said, knowing that Karolina needed the affirmation, needed to hear that Nico was okay. “Thank you.”

 

Karolina accepted Nico's kiss without hesitation. She felt the power building inside her from the bit of life force Nico had given her, and she had to work to keep her emotions in check around the surging energy deep inside her. A single trickle escaped from her left eye, running down her cheek and onto Nico's face as they pressed their lips together, needing the reassurance of each other's presence.

 

“I love you so much,” Nico spoke softly as she finally relaxed her grip on Karolina's head, putting a sliver of distance between their faces.

 

“I love you too,” replied Karolina, whose smile seemed slightly improved. “I would tell you to be careful, but...”

 

Nico smiled again. “Yeah, we both know that's not my style. Are we over them?”

 

Karolina leaned her head to the side to look down, then palpably shivered. “It looks like a giant carpet of spiders, if spiders were bigger than people and had been warped by evil magic to be even more terrifying.”

 

“Sounds good. Bombs away.”

 

Nico's head darted forward and kissed Karolina's cheek right before Karolina released the smaller woman, letting her plummet toward the abyssal horde of creatures below.

 

The long tail of Nico's jacket fluttered in the rush of air past her as she dropped, picking up speed rapidly. She felt her heart rushing up into her throat, felt the force of her fall trying to snap her eyes shut and pin her diaphragm in place. Then she felt a familiar rustle of fabric wrap around her shoulders and a weight settle just above her sternum as the Cloak of Levitation and the Eye of Agamotto shifted into this reality.

 

A wave of dizziness swept over Nico as she tightened her grip on the Staff of One, drawing power from it but not yet invoking it directly. As she looked down at the legion of monsters covering the rapidly-approaching desert floor, another rush of lightheadedness swept over her, something that could be fatal falling at this speed; she gritted her teeth and sent a pulse of glowing purple energy downward, a globe no larger than her head but exploding with enough force to clear a circle fifty meters across in the mass of chitinous _things_ below her.

 

The Cloak stopped her descent with a gut-wrenching suddenness less than a meter above the ground, holding the position for a heartbeat before dropping her on the baked clay of the arroyo. Already the gnashing, chittering things surrounding her were surging inward, hooked claws and barbed mandibles and greasy, stinking bodies crashing toward her, all fighting to be the first to rip the living being into tiny gobs of tissue.

 

“ _Rising vortex for demonic assholes!”_ Nico shouted as her ears rang and her head throbbed, her discomfort adding power to the magic that erupted from her and the Staff simultaneously, mere heartbeats before the rush of creatures engulfed her.

 

Purple energy snapped into place around her, rushing outward so powerfully that the tide of misshapen figures crashing onto her position was picked up and tossed into the air like snowflakes. The chattering of the entities turned into shrieking as they snapped and clawed at the warmth of the body now falling away from them as they were borne upward, rising in a fierce swirl of dark, misshapen forms that expanded upward and outward from Nico's position. The ascending cloud of angry monsters swelled and expanded, within seconds taking on a roughly spherical shape nearly a kilometer in diameter, its outline rising and dipping with murmurations of writhing bodies.

 

And inside that teeming mass of tens of thousands of murderous entities eager to maim and kill anything alive, a burning pink light glowed at the very center.

 

—O—

 

A glowing pink field of energy springing to life in front of her make Lenore jump (as much as she could while hovering).

 

She suddenly felt the pressure forcing the edges of the tear in reality ebb as the tide of summoned creatures halted, their bodies incinerating as soon as they touched the searing sheet of plasma her mother was projecting into the reality rift.

 

“Thanks Mom!” Lenore called out over her shoulder as she began to manipulate the now-slack threads of reality, pulling the ragged seams of their dimension back together.

 

When a dull yellow light became apparent somewhere behind the hazy atmosphere of the other dimension, Lenore took great care to not look at it, fixing her vision firmly upon one side of the reality tear as she increased her pace of sewing the breach closed. She felt sweat bead on her forehead, then trickle down her back as the yellow glow intensified as its unknowable source drew nearer, the hazy glow shifting and bobbing unnaturally as something much, much taller and larger than Lenore approached the gateway. Whips of movement could have been seen through the shadowy haze had Lenore glanced, but she keep her eyes resolutely fixated on the edge of the breach, knowing that if she looked deeper into the dimension of insanity, she very well could be lost in it forever.

 

Her scalp began to itch and her skin crawled as the yellow glow became clearer in her periphery. Whispers and tickles deep in the back of her mind cried out for her attention, for her love, for her to play with them and lose herself in them and their sweet syllables of insanity—

 

The yellow light vanished and the vile whispers in her mind ceased as Lenore sealed the breach. She felt her body tremble with fear as she finally let her eyes move from the safe point in her dimension, casting a hesitant glance with her peripheral vision before finally letting her eyes cautiously flicker to where the dimensional tear had been. When she saw only the horizon and mountains in the distance, she allowed herself a moment of relief before the urge to vomit rushed over her.

 

That had been close. Far too close.

 

After the retching passed—thank the goddess that she hadn't eaten breakfast yet—Lenore turned her attention to the scores of cultists below her. Or what was left of them.

 

Being at the site of the portal they had opened between dimensions, the cultists had been the first victims of the onrush of inhuman entities, their bodies torn to shreds as easily as their yellow robes had been.

 

“Serves you right, you stupid, stupid fuckers,” Lenore said aloud as she flew down to the ritual site, hovering as green and gold light streaked from her hands, burning away the unholy sigils that had been etched into the desert floor and filled with blood. Once that was done, she planned on taking a _very_ close look at that ritual site.

 

At least, that was the plan until she happened to look to her right and saw what her parents were doing.

 

—O—

 

The twisting, gyrating mass of gibbering, hooting, screaming creatures was so thick that it cut off the sunlight entirely, leaving Karolina in what would have been total darkness if not for her own pink light.

 

Once, many years and a lifetime ago, being completely enclosed and engulfed in darkness would have petrified the blonde.

 

Today, to Karolina, it felt like a warm hug from the woman she loved.

 

—O—

 

Nico smiled proudly as the first shafts of pink and yellow light stabbed through the thick shell composed of the monstrous creatures, first emerging from the few spots free of the creatures but quickly joined by other beams of brilliant pink and yellow as Karolina's blazing light incinerated the entire horde, vaporizing hair and chitin and ichor alike until only Karolina and her glow remained.

 

Nico was already flying upward as that bright pink light flickered and dimmed, then vanished completely as Karolina was spent. The Cloak let Nico gracefully maneuver to catch her falling wife, who was too weak to maintain flight at this point. Nico carefully gathered the tall blonde into her arms, a reversal of their usual positions, as she flew them down to the ground.

 

“We should do this more often,” Nico said, getting a weary smile from Karolina.

 

“Nearly wipe ourselves out?”

 

“No, me carrying you when we fly. It's kinda hot.”

 

Karolina's smile grew. “Only took you twenty-eight years to figure that out,” she said smugly before her eyes drifted closed for a few moments.

 

Nico descended downward, toward the remains of the ritual site. Lenore's body shifted from its green Majesdanian glow to her regular human visage once more as Nico touched down close to her middle daughter, who was nearly a younger version of her mother thanks to their shared dark hair and diminutive stature. A thought from Nico had the Cloak of Levitation unfurling itself from around its master and wrapping Karolina in a snug embrace, leaving the snoozing blonde hovering a meter over the ground as Nico stepped closer to the large, relatively flat rock that had been used as the ritual's altar.

 

“Please tell me that isn't what I think it is,” Lenore said to her mother, her gaze firmly fixed on the objects that remained carefully arranged on the makeshift table of rock.

 

Nico started to ask Lenore to clarify what she was talking about until her gaze swept across the half-dozen items and instantly locked onto a sheet of weathered parchment that exuded evil like a stove radiated heat.

 

Nico swallowed as she stepped closer, close enough now that she could taste the bitter hate and malice surrounding the single thick sheet, yellowed and cracked at the edges but with ink that still glistened a dark red under the light of the rising sun.

 

“What the actual fuck,” Nico swore, confused as to how an artifact this malign wound up in the hands of an unstable elder god cult without the Sorcerer Supreme being aware of such an event. She carefully reached out, fingertips just shy of contacting the weathered parchment that had once been human skin.

 

“That's really a page from the Darkhold, isn't it?” Lenore spoke softly, her voice hesitant.

 

“Yeah,” Nico said, scarcely believing it herself.

 

“How many copies of it exist?”

 

“Too fucking many. I've personally destroyed two of them.”

 

There was one copy of the Darkhold sealed and held as a precaution against future events, securely locked away and hidden. As far as Nico was concerned, that was more than enough. Any additional copies were disasters waiting to happen, and she was quite happy to destroy them as she found them.

 

Lenore watched with slight disbelief as her mother reached down and plucked the weathered sheet of parchment up, holding it at arms' length. “Mama—!” she blurted out.

 

Nico turned to look at Lenore, giving her a cool look but not saying anything as she watched Lenore try to decide whether or not to knock the artifact from Nico's hand.

 

Lenore blinked a few times, carefully searching Nico with all her senses, human, Majesdanian and mystical, but not sensing any invasion or assault on Nico's aura or soul. “It's—it's not hurting you,” she finally managed to speak.

 

Nico gave her daughter a cocky smirk. “Game recognizes game. I'm as scary as it is, and it knows it.” She turned her attention back to the parchment, still held at arm's length. “So how do we destroy this?” she asked her daughter.

 

Ever the scholar among her and her sisters, Lenore recognized a test when it appeared. “Flames of the Faltine will destroy it.”

 

“Correct, but why _wouldn't_ we want to use the Flames of the Faltine here?”

 

Lenore considered that for a moment, her mouth quirking briefly as she thought. “The Faltine are a sorcerous race, thought to be connected with Dormammu, though he's a _lot_ more powerful than any of them.”

 

“Right...”

 

“And invoking the Flames draws upon the power of the Faltine race to power the spell's manifestation.”

 

“Looks like you paid attention during kiddy day.”

 

Lenore gave her mama a dry look. “Ha ha. From what we know about the Faltine, which is not very damn much, they're beings of energy that manifests in the form of flame, so it's possible that the manifestation of the Flames might actually be part of some or all of the Faltine.”

 

“Getting warmer,” Nico said, side-eyeing Lenore as she continued to hold the cursed parchment at arm's length

 

After several seconds of contemplation, during which she tapped the tip of her right index finger against her cheek, Lenore said, “Are you worried that somehow the information written on the paper might be readable by the Faltine if we use their power to destroy it?”

 

“That's actually an interesting thought, but it's more a matter of mixing two potentially volatile magical powers together. Throwing kerosene on a fire makes it flare up, but throwing _gasoline_ on it is—”

 

“Explosive,” Lenore finished, cutting off her mother and trying not to smile at the briefly annoyed look she got in return. “So it's a matter of not knowing how the two might react to each other.”

 

“That's what I'd be concerned about, yeah. Kind of a scary thought on them possibly being able to read it, though. That's good. Paranoia's a good thing in this line of work.”

 

“Thanks. So you'd use some other way to destroy it?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“Hm.”

 

As the two dark-haired witches conversed, Karolina woke up for the second time that morning, still weak but starting to feel better now that the sunlight was warming her face directly and her body through the Cloak. The Cloak carefully unwrapped itself where it had formed a makeshift cocoon around the blonde, letting Karolina stand, stretch and enjoy the morning sunlight as she watched her wife and their middle daughter interact, and it was just. So. Darn. Cute.

 

Lenore's posture was nearly a copy of Nico's as the two of them continued their calm discussion, and Karolina smiled as she observed Lenore focus and listen attentively to whatever it was Nico was saying to her.

 

“You're so cute when you're teaching,” Karolina said out loud, reaching up and pulling the Cloak around her shoulders like a large Snuggie as she started walking toward the other two.

 

“Kar, babe, you should probably stay back, okay?” Nico called out, turning her head to look at the blonde.

 

Karolina stopped quickly, trying to quash her mind's reflexive feeling of not being wanted as she carefully considered the tone of Nico's words before reacting. Nico had spoken quickly, and although her words sounded calm, her pronunciation was still clipped. That meant Nico was worried, and trying not to show it.

 

“You two working with something I shouldn't see?” she called out, trying not to rush to judgment or sound hurt. Nico usually had good reasons for doing anything magic-related, Karolina knew, so it almost certainly wasn't her wife just trying to keep secrets from her.

 

“Yeah,” Nico replied, still focused on something she was holding in front of her. “A page from the Darkhold.”

 

“Oh my god,” Karolina swore softly, and she felt a pang of fear slide through her heart.

 

Nico laughed. “Yeah, and not a very nice one,” she replied. “Chthon's a cunt.”

 

Karolina laughed despite the severity of the situation. “You think it's best if I don't get too close to it?” she called out.

 

“Get too close to it, look at it, smell it, pretty much anything. I don't want you to have nightmares,” Nico said flatly, turning her upper body to look at Karolina while simultaneously swapping the page from the evil tome to her right hand, shielding Karolina from it. “This thing is seriously fucking evil.”

 

“But what about your nightmares?” asked Karolina.

 

Nico smiled despite the seriousness of the situation, and the fact that the gesture that once looked so unnatural on the witch's face now came so easily made Karolina's heart feel as warm as the rest of her body.

 

“You keep my nightmares away,” Nico answered proudly.

 

“Aw,” Karolina sighed, smiling brightly.

 

“Plus we killed Nightmare last year.”

 

The blonde's expression soured dramatically. “Way to ruin the moment, hon,” she teased.

 

“Well, he won't stay dead.”

 

“Still.”

 

The two mates continue to stare at each other for a few seconds before they both smiled again.

 

“I'm sorry if it seems like I'm telling you what to do,” Nico said.

 

“No, you've got a good reason,” Karolina said quickly. “I know you, hon. I know you're not like that.”

 

Nico looked at Lenore, holding her look long enough to make Lenore pause, then turned back to Karolina. “I'm pretty on edge right now, and I know you are too. And I don't think it's a coincidence that a fairly piss-ant cult turns up the same day with a page from the Darkhold containing a summoning ritual that nearly brought an elder god here, _and_ did all that without me noticing.”

 

Now Nico returned her attention to Lenore. “How did _you_ know something was going on?” she asked her daughter.

 

The smug little grin that spread across Lenore's face was Nico Dean through and through, and even meters away Karolina nearly laughed at how much their little Nor looked like her confident, stubborn mama, down to the way her arms crossed over her chest.

 

“Conjunction of Betelguise and Andromeda overnight, with Mercury _just_ going into retrograde,” Lenore replied. “And Aldebaran's high over the horizon right before dawn, plus it was a new moon last night. Perfect conditions for a certain summoning combined with gobs of chaotic energy and astrological backlash.”

 

Nico's expression was nonplussed. “Do you ever sleep?”

 

“As much as I can. Jimmy takes every other night on baby duty. Leaves plenty of time for studying.”

 

“You're not still in school, you know.”

 

“You're teaching me right now, aren't you?”

 

Nico considered that very valid point. “Smart-ass,” she said, but it was with clear love in the tone and a smile on her face. “How you did know it was going to be here?”

 

“Best view of Aldebaran on the West Coast.”

 

“Okay, then what's a good way to destroy this page?”

 

Lenore's smile widened. “Well, since we want to avoid potentially volatile reactions between the black magic of the Darkhold and any other mystical energies, we could co-locate it to the sun and incinerate it that way.”

 

“Very good. Why wouldn't we want to just teleport it th—”

 

“Because with something as dangerous as the Darkhold, we don't let it leave our presence until we _know_ it's secured or destroyed.”

 

Nico's face remained serious for several seconds before she grinned, stepped forward and placed a kiss on Lenore's forehead. “Your mom and I are so fucking proud of you,” she said. “You're going to really shake shit up in the mystical world.”

 

Lenore blushed slightly at the compliment, practically effusive from her mama. “Well, I had good teachers,” she replied.

 

“You want to do the honors?” Nico said, shifting her body so that she could extend the parchment to Lenore without it being visible to Karolina.

 

Lenore's smile vanished, replaced by a somber look as she carefully took the page from her mother's fingers, barely holding it between her own fingertips. That was still enough for her fingers and hand to immediately sting, and she could feel the corruption try to break free from its papery prison and invade her own soul.

 

“Wow,” she gasped, adding more strength to her spiritual shields as the vile thoughts tried to break through and infect her id. “That's pretty aggressive.”

 

Nico nodded. “Once you burn it, the book'll learn. It won't try to fuck with you as much in the future if it knows you'll destroy it.”

 

“Good to know,” Lenore replied. She took a moment to shift her perception, aiming her mystic senses toward the rising sun while never taking her eyes off the weathered page in her hands, which now was starting to flutter and sway in an attempt to escape its impending doom.

 

While still maintaining her defenses, Lenore focused on the evil parchment as she thought of the sun. Green sigils bloomed to life around her free right hand as she curled her middle and ring fingers and straightened her index finger, moving her hand into the proper position to overlap the current position of the Darkhold page with the nuclear inferno in the heart of the sun.

 

The page shrieked as it burst into flame, an oily black smoke forming but being vaporized instantly by the extreme heat of the star. Lenore held her hands entirely still, holding the overlap of space only at the Darkhold page, extending it closer to her own fingertips until it was close enough for her to release it, letting the solar furnace incinerate the last of the infernal parchment. She then eased her right hand's position, rotating it slowly to close the spatial conjunction before she dropped the spell entirely.

 

She also kept her spiritual defenses raised fully the whole time. The Darkhold was not something to underestimate.

 

“Nice work,” Nico said, a subtle smile on her face. Suddenly she lunged at her daughter, quickly enough to startle Karolina. Lenore screamed and launched herself backward, raising a swirling viridian shield at the same time she illuminated into bright green and launched herself backward and off the ground, in a tight defensive stance as she hovered in place.

 

Nico, who had held her position after the initial feint, started laughing, with Karolina following suit.

 

“Dammit, Mama!” Lenore snapped, trying not to laugh with relief as her heart pounded. “That was NOT FUNNY!”

 

“It was a little funny,” Nico said. As she smiled, she felt a light twinge in her chest, nothing painful. She lifted her left hand to her chest without thought, as her right hand was still gripping the Staff of One.

 

“You okay?” Karolina asked, her attention now directed at her wife. “Pull something, maybe?” she added in a teasing voice. “You're not twenty-three, you know.”

 

“Ha ha. I”m still the hottest thing you've ever seen.”

 

Karolina nodded. “You got me there,” she said with a smile.

 

Then Lenore clutched at her chest as well.

 

Nico and Karolina both looked over at their middle daughter; if not for the black camisole and jeans, she could have been a near-twin for Nico at that moment as they both stood with their left hands to their chests.

 

“What's going on?” Karolina asked. It was that moment she remembered the reason for their initial panic. “The Watcher,” she said.

 

Nico swore under her breath, while Lenore's eyes widened around her blue irises.

 

“The _Watcher?!”_ Lenore blurted. “Where?!”

 

“On the mountain next to Crater,” Karolina replied. “Vaughn called me just a little bit ago.” She reached in her back pocket for her phone, but it wasn't there. “Damn it! I must have left my phone downstairs!”

 

“I left Ligiea at Crater right before I came here,” Lenore said. She could feel her heart rate elevate again. “Jimmy's doing an Avengers thing in Wakanda.”

 

“Sabrina and Blair are at Crater, too,” Karolina said. “Vaughn said that Dori, Jhil and Isaac were in San Francisco for a meeting. And Persy and Gloriana had to drop Lydia and Coraline off this morning, because they were going to help with the earthquake response in Mexico.”

 

An unsettled silence hung in the air like the desert heat for several seconds.

 

“So all of our grandchildren are at Crater at the same time, which almost never happens,” Nico said, her voice so deliberately slow and calm that Karolina could tell her wife was trying not to explode. “On the morning the Watcher shows up.”

 

Karolina felt chills slithering up her spine, but she didn't have time to process the nauseating sensation, because all three of them burst into motion at the same time.

 

—O—

 

“Who the fuck could it be?!” Lenore shouted as she and her mothers emerged from Nico's portal at Crater, Karolina carrying Nico in her arms as she flew less than a meter away from her daughter, parallel pink and green streaks trailing through the air behind them. “Ohhh, fuck fuck _FUCK!!”_ Lenore swore, her voice rising as she took in the sight before them.

 

Smoke coiled upward, a thick plume and two thinner ones ascending into the clear desert morning. Most of one of the larger buildings on the Crater campus had exploded, with white roof and chunks of concrete scattered nearly a hundred meters away. Movement was visible below, and the crack of gunshots rang out repeatedly as people in the yellow jumpsuits of patients and the blue and khaki uniforms of staff raced haphazardly in different directions.

 

“Kar, you stop the shooting,” Nico said, looking at her wife's face. Seeing the blonde's mouth start to open, Nico added, “The Gibborim worship you, literally. You'll make them fight ten times harder no matter what's going on, and they'll do anything you say.”

 

Karolina's mouth closed and her lips set into a look of confident determination as her blue eyes met Nico's dark brown, then the glowing blonde shot downward toward the fracas below, leaving Nico hovering in place.

 

“Nor, you check on the kids,” Nico said, knowing that Lenore wasn't going to be thinking straight until she knew her daughter was safe. “I'll check on my asshole in-law.”

 

The younger witch nodded and streaked to her left and downward, a viridian glow in her wake.

 

Nico oriented herself toward the small stand-alone building that held the entrance to the stairs leading to the underground vault, which had formerly been a solitary confinement section years before, under Jonah's leadership. Only debris was visible now, choking the exposed opening in the ground that indicated the stairs descending into the earth.

 

Nico noted the blast pattern as she descended to hover just above the twisted sheet metal, broken wood and cracked cinderblocks. Much of the debris was scattered around the concrete footer, indicating something blasting outward before the rest of the structure collapsed.

 

That realization didn't do her gnawing stomach any favors. She reached out for her wards below ground, but instead of feeling their buzzing presence, she felt nothing. _That_ was odd; if the wards had been disrupted, she should have felt them break when it happened. She shouldn't be feeling _nothing_.

 

She lifted the Staff of One. _“Clear a path to the vault below,”_ she said firmly. The Staff responded with a swell of power in her arm and upper body as the debris screeched and scraped to expose the dark cavity of the stairwell. The twisted pieces of what remained of the metal stairs lifted out of the shaft to deposit themselves beside the opening.

 

Nico immediately flew downward, raising mystic shields as she did so. The shields illuminated the walls with a purple light, revealing four large, complex purple sigils painted on the walls of the passage, one ward on each side, the top and the bottom of the passageway. Each of them had been painted over with a glistening, dark red substance that Nico could smell was blood over a meter away.

 

She floated closer and extended her left hand, feeling for her wards. Their energy was barely detectable, as if it had been masked beneath the other rune painted on top of her designs. She turned back to the passageway and hovered to the next layer of wards. Like the first set, each one had been covered with the new symbol, essentially creating a tunnel through her wards without dispelling them. That implied serious sophistication.

 

Now even more concerned, she turned and flew down the short passageway, passing the monitor room off to her left and going directly through the wide-open vault door into the antechamber connected to the alcove holding Jacob's stasis pod.

 

The cover to the pod had been thrown open, revealing the pod itself was empty.

 

—O—

 

Karolina stood behind a wall of swirling pink and purple, not flinching as bullets struck the plasma field and vaporized with soft sizzles. She spared a moment to look behind her at the half-dozen Gibborim workers who had gathered behind the safety of her energy wall.

 

Unmoving on the rubble-strewn ground around those six were three others bleeding in various locations, one dressed in the blue shirt and khaki slacks of a staff member and two in the yellow jumpsuits of patients at the mental health facility. Three of the relatively uninjured Gibborim were hovering over the wounded, while the other three staffers were huddled behind Karolina.

 

“What the hell happened here?” Karolina asked as she took another look through her plasma field at the assailants, who were wearing the same khaki slacks as the staffers but were bare-chested, revealing either tattooed or painted designs on their chests that Karolina recognized were magical in nature.

 

She herself couldn't manipulate magic, but after three decades of life together with Nico, she had learned how to feel the hum of magical energy that constantly flowed through her wife. Once she had learned how to perceive Nico's magic, it was fairly easy to learn how to assense for magic's energy around her.

 

A glance behind her again revealed the three Gibborim workers looking nervously between themselves.

 

“WHAT. HAPPENED.” Karolina's voice was harsh, harsher than she had intended, but goddammit, she needed answers, and she needed them NOW.

 

“The Cult of Jacob,” one of them, a man in his late twenties or early thirties, said. Karolina recognized him as Oscar, one of the few people at Crater privy to the secret of Jacob being kept there in stasis.

 

“We don't know that,” said another.

 

“Oh, come on!” snapped the third, a young woman in her twenties. “Who else could it be? They knew where he was, they knew the codes for the security system, they knew how to get past the magical defenses! It had to be someone who worked here, Steve, and you know it!”

 

Karolina turned and looked at Oscar. “The Cult of Jacob?” she asked, not liking the implications of that name.

 

“There were rumors,” Oscar continued after a slight hesitation. “That some people were growing unhappy with the role Gibborim has taken. That we should return to the old ways, the worship of the light. That the Messiah's marri—”

 

Oscar looked into Karolina's eyes and swallowed, then continued.

 

“That _your_ marriage to the Dark Queen was heresy. That it corrupted the glorification of the light.”

 

“Oh my god, I thought we had moved past all that shit,” Karolina said wearily, looking up at the men still shooting at her and the Gibborim. She unleashed a wave of solid energy that surged forward, slamming the gunmen backward and sending them, along with a tide of debris, sprawling away.

 

“Almost all of the Gibborim have,” replied the man behind her. “But it looks like those rumors about there being a hidden faction inside Gibborim weren't just rumors.”

 

“Yeah, no shit,” Karolina responded, realizing how much she sounded like her wife.

 

—O—

 

Lenore's heart was beating so fast that her ears were ringing and her hands were starting to tingle as she scanned through the destruction, trying to locate enough landmarks to find the dedicated wing that had served as the secure residential unit where she and her sisters had stayed when they were kids and visited Crater. The three of them and their moms had only stayed here sparingly, but the same section was used much more often today, as Pandora and her family were spending more time at Crater than ever before due to their growing role managing Gibborim's business and charitable operations.

 

Soon it'd just be Lenore, Jimmy and Ligeia staying at the Hostel with Nico and Karolina. Lenore wasn't sure how she felt about that.

 

She finally spotted a fairly intact part of the main building, in good enough shape to orient herself toward the smaller multi-winged structure that was the residential unit. She streaked in that direction, entirely focused on her destination. She didn't even notice the few bullets that passed near her or were incinerated in her plasma field as rogue cultists took hurried shots at her when she flew over them.

 

The residential building was mostly intact, which was a good sign. Lenore slipped inside a collapsed section of wall, hovering in the main hallway for a moment before launching herself toward the wing reserved just for her family.

 

The steel security doors were still closed and intact, and Lenore felt her heart sag in relief at the sight. She lifted her hands and cast an unlocking spell, taking a calming breath as the double fire doors glowed green, then swung open.

 

The utter devastation that was revealed behind the steel doors hit Lenore with the force of a speeding train.

 

“Oh god,” the raven-haired woman breathed to herself as she flew forward, eyes and head scanning and swiveling to look at the destruction surrounding her.

 

The ceiling of the first floor had collapsed almost throughout the residential section; she could see up into the second and third floors from her position on the ground floor. Walls had been knocked down, wooden doors had been splintered, furniture had been smashed, carpet had been scorched and blackened.

 

She drifted down the short initial hallway, stopping to check the kitchen, more intact than the other rooms she could see but still looking like an earthquake had hit it. Then she swept through the dining room, nearly destroyed.

 

She paused outside the nursery, where Ligeia, only a few months old, would have been. Steeling herself, she opened the door... and nearly broke down into tears at the ruined state of the room. The crib in which Ligeia would have been, the same crib that Lenore and her sisters had used as babies themselves, had been shattered into fragments of wood, cloth and padding when the ceiling had given way, letting a desk and chair fall onto the crib.

 

It took all her resolve to not throw up as Lenore checked the wreckage, holding her breath as she did so. After several seconds, there was no sign of her baby. In fact, there was no sign of any bodies in the nursery. No blood was visible.

 

Using her light, Lenore lifted the chair and desk, confirming that the crib indeed had been empty when the ceiling collapsed. She let the broken furniture drop with a crash as she released it and cast a locating spell for her daughter.

 

She cursed internally at herself for not thinking of that immediately, for letting her emotions get the better of her. The spell tugged Lenore deeper into the residential wing, but there was a slight delay before the signal returned, and that unexpected hesitation on the part of her spell sent Lenore's heart rate jackhammering once more.

 

Lenore followed the tug of the location spell to an adjoining room. This room was more structurally intact, with the ceiling and walls all standing and unbreached, but a layer of thick, dark dust seemed to cover everything in the room as she floated through the doorway and over the smashed-in door, only some dully glowing embers on the ground now.

 

With her next breath, an acrid scent filled Lenore's nostrils. Her hand flew up to cover her mouth as she fought her gag reflex. She brightened her body's glow, filling the room with green light and dull red shadows. She knew what the smell was, and she couldn't believe it.

 

At the sight of several charred bodies lying in shapeless heaps on the floor, Lenore lost the battle with her stomach, doubling over as she vomited heavily onto the floor, blanketed with what she now realized wasn't dust.

 

It was ashes.

 

—O—

 

Nico's nose hovered less than a centimeter over the rough pentagram that had been painted on the floor of Jacob's vault. Like the other runes, it was made of blood, but it was enormous, over two meters in diameter, and dispersed through the pentagram's design were numerous other sigils and runes, much more complex and precise. Some of the lines were so delicate that they looked to have been applied with a fine-tipped brush.

 

“What in the hell...” Nico muttered to herself, cataloging the smaller sigils, many of which went right beyond _little-known_ firmly into _esoteric_ territory. “Even _I_ don't recognize some of these.”

 

Then she reached the center of the pentagram, where the pentagonal shape contained a single rune more intricate than anything else in the design.

 

“Oh, fuck,” Nico whispered as her eyes locked onto the elaborate sigil. _This_ one she recognized. “Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck.”

 

Without another word or glance around her, Nico shot up from where she was hovering just off the concrete floor, flying toward the corridor leading back to the surface.

 

In the center of the pentagram that had negated Nico's magic holding Jacob in place, the personal sigil of Mephisto still shone wetly.

 

—O—

 

Karolina took a moment to look around as the last of the attackers were bound by the staffers still loyal to her.

 

“Jacob is risen!” shouted one of the heretics. “He will restore the Church of Gibborim to its true glory, to its true message!”

 

Karolina fought the urge to blast the man across the compound as she floated over to where he, several other men and one woman lay, immobilized and bound at the wrists and ankles with zip-ties. “What are you talking about?” the blonde asked, looking down at the wild-eyed man, who looked like he was in his early twenties.

 

“Jacob is the true heir of Jonah!” the man shouted, spitting flecks of saliva. “He will open the gate to bring the luminous beings to Earth, where they will take their rightful place as rulers of this world!”

 

“My brother is a murderer,” Karolina replied to the man. “He killed our mother, along with several others. He's insane.”

 

“He is the true messiah! He is a _divine being_ , unbound by earthly laws!”

 

Despite her still hovering a meter above the ground, Karolina's arms stiffly extended at her sides, her fists clenched with fury as she glared down at the man. “My brother is a homicidal _asshole_ , just like our father was!” she yelled back. “And all of you who think he's going to usher in some stupid utopia are _dumbasses!_ He's going to kill every one of you, draining you dry to keep himself alive, JUST LIKE JONAH DID! He doesn't give a shit about Gibborim, or about me, or about any of you! He's—”

 

The explosion of one wing of the Crater compound immediately commanded Karolina's attention. She used her powers to extend a light field over all of Crater, shielding it from the metal, brick, wood and other debris that was now reaching the apex of its ascension and about to rain back down on the compound.

 

The dark blur Karolina saw out of her peripheral vision told her where Nico was; the dark-haired witch stopped right beside Karolina as the hail of falling debris began to sizzle as it incinerated upon contact with Karolina's energy field, currently in a plasma form.

 

“Did you do that?” Nico asked, her voice surprisingly calm given the circumstances.

 

Karolina slowly shook her head side to side. “Nope.”

 

Nico didn't speak as she shot forward, toward the now-exposed section of building, smoke rising from multiple areas. She was there in seconds, flying through the cloud of ash and smoke with her shields up, prepared for an immediate attack or a second explosion.

 

She was not prepared for the sight of Lenore kneeling on the ground in the middle of the destruction, face streaked black with running mascara, her chest heaving as she clutched a dirty blue blanket to her—

 

The Staff of One slipped from Nico's suddenly limp fingers, falling to the cluttered floor with a _clank_ of metal followed by a flatter _thunk_ of wood striking concrete.

 

Nico touched down on her suddenly unsteady legs, her throat tightening as she felt her chest begin to painfully spasm against the sobs that threatened to burst forth as she numbly took one agonizing step forward, then another, then another, until she stood beside her middle daughter.

 

A tiny, soot-covered pale hand and part of an arm had slid free of the dirty blanket Lenore clutched to her chest, hanging limply. Nico was unable to wrench her eyes away from the most agonizing sight she had ever seen.

 

“Th-they're all here,” Lenore weakly gasped, pausing to take in a shuddering breath. “Lydia. Cori. Sabrina. Blair.” Lenore bent over, chest convulsing as she sobbed for several seconds. “They're... They're all—”

 

Nico finally broke, bursting into tears as she realized what Nor was saying. She bent over, trying not to fall as she swayed, sobbing and shaking.

 

“Nico?”

 

At the sound of Karolina's concerned voice, Nico quickly straightened up. “Kar, don't come over here!” she said, trying to sound stern but utterly failing.

 

“Nico, honey, what's going on?!” Karolina nearly shouted as she flew toward them.

 

Pink light swept across the debris-strewn ground, growing brighter as Nico's eyes remained locked onto the neutral sight of shattered wood and cracked concrete. She whirled around, nearly losing her balance as she did so. “Kar, baby, DO NOT come over here!” she said, focusing on her wife. “You—you don't want to see this!”

 

“See what?” Karolina said, meeting Nico, who ran toward the blonde, threw her arms around Karolina and clenched her tightly, much tighter than usual, as she sobbed into the tall blonde's shoulder. “Nico, sweetie, you're really scaring me!” She looked and saw Lenore's back and part of her left side as their middle daughter was on her knees, doubled over. “Is Nor hurt?!”

 

Nico tried to turn Karolina around bodily, but with her mass negated in her wife's light field, she was unable to do anything more than tug weakly. “Kar, hon, you—”

 

The sound of space shattering drew Nico's and Karolina's attention. They looked up to see a huge white star splinter into gleaming shards, then fall away, revealing Persephone and Gloriana, both of whom looked filthy, covered with dirt, mud and soot.

 

“What the fuck's going on?!” Persy shouted, her words racing. “Everything's perfectly fine, then the wards cut out and—” She stopped as she registered the destruction around them. “Oh god,” she swore, looking around.

 

“ _Sweet merciful mother,”_ Gloriana whispered in Spanish as she also looked around, her face stricken. _“Help us, please.”_

 

“Where's Lydia?!” Persephone said, nearly at a shout. “WHERE'S CORI?!”

 

“Nico, what's going on?!” Karolina said, her voice starting to sound frantic as she tried to pull back and look down into Nico's eyes, but Nico refused to look up. “Nico, what happened?! _Where are the little girls?!”_

 

Nico looked up, eyes red, tears covering her cheeks and chin, and the look of utter despondency answered Karolina's questions.

 

“No,” the blonde choked out, her voice so soft, so timid that Nico felt her heart break all over again.

 

“NO!!” Karolina now screamed, starting to fly forward before Nico used a spell to lock them in place.

 

“You don't want to see them, Kar,” Nico said.

 

“No, they're going to be okay, Nico!” Karolina said, pushing against her wife's spell before bodily whirling to face Nico again. “You can save them! _You can bring them back!”_

 

Even glowing, Karolina's eyes were wild, the thin rim of blue nearly swallowed by the black of her widened pupils. Nico wasn't sure if she'd ever seen Karolina so distraught, not even when Karolina was holding Leslie's burned body in her arms.

 

A shining white portal opened in the air, widening to reveal a wide-eyed Pandora shooting through the gateway. “What in—oh FUCK!” Pandora said, her voice rising to end in a shout as she took in the destroyed building. _“Brina! Blair!”_

 

Faster than any of the others could react, Pandora shot forward, a white streak as she fell to her knees, skidding across the rough surface on her knees fast enough to tear through her pants and draw blood. She froze looking down at a small pile of dirt- and ash-covered bodies, all of them too small to be adults.

 

The howl of anguish that came from Dori's lips wasn't even remotely human. It was agonizing, pain and despair and loss, primal and raw.

 

Persephone sat down beside her baby sister, more falling onto her rear than a controlled movement. She reached out as silver light lifted up the bodies of her and Gloriana's daughters, moved their stilled forms to her.

 

Gloriana fell to her knees as well beside her wife, weeping, her body shaking as she carefully took Lydia's ashen body into her arms, gathering the child to her chest as Persephone did the same with Coraline.

 

“Who the fuck did this.”

 

Nico turned around to see Dori holding two tiny, limp figures in her arms, Sabrina and Blair. The look of total fury on Pandora's face was something Nico had never seen before.

 

“Jacob,” Lenore answered, her voice hollow.

 

“How did he get out?” Pandora asked, tears dripping from her cheeks onto her daughters' scorched clothes.

 

“He had help,” Nico said. “A group in Gibborim that was loyal to him, not any of you.”

 

“Are they all dead?”

 

Nico looked up at Pandora. The air around the young blonde was actually _smoking_ , like she was about to combust. “They're captured. Not dead.”

 

“Not yet.”

 

“They had help, too,” Nico said, taking a moment to meet the eyes of each of her daughters. “And that help's the _real_ bitch here.”

 

Nico looked behind her to her left. Atop the mountain, the cosmic figure of Uatu, the Watcher, was now looking down, his enormous eyes fixed directly on Nico and her family, and she knew why.

 

She turned back to her daughters.

 

“Mephisto did this.”

 

There was a pained silence hanging in the dusty air for several seconds.

 

“Someone gave Jacob's followers the knowledge to spoof my wards in a way that I never knew they had been bypassed. Someone gave a piss-ant apocalypse cult a page from the goddamn _Darkhold_ , and they came damn close to summoning a fucking _elder god_ to earth this morning. _And_ someone helped these Jacob-cult pricks bypass all the kids' protection enchantments _and_ conceal that they were in danger while they ki—”

 

She stopped, unable to finish her sentence, to voice the word that caught in her throat.

 

Gloriana turned to look at her wife Persephone. “You never felt anything from their enchantments?”

 

Persephone shook her head slowly. She was visibly devastated, and just that motion sent her head reeling once more. “I had no idea.”

 

“Neither did I,” Lenore added.

 

“I only knew something was wrong a minute ago,” Dori said. “I was so freaked out I gated to the Hostel by accident first.”

 

“You only felt anything because Nor blew away whatever enchantment they had used to hide the fact that Jacob was—” Nico's voice trailed off as Karolina lifted her head off of Nico's shoulder.

 

“Wait, _he_ did this?” asked Karolina, her voice hard as steel. _“Personally?!”_

 

Nico hesitated, then carefully stepped out of Karolina's embrace. “Yeah,” she said wearily, opening her hand and reaching toward the Staff of One, which obediently flew into Nico's grip. “Their bodies aren't burned like the others. They're _drained_ , Kar. That's what... That's what killed them.”

 

The four women on the ground looked up as Nico walked over to them, bits of brick and concrete crunching beneath her boots. Each of the grieving mothers looked up, taking in the small woman's determined look and the crackling electricity filling the Staff's headpiece as Nico stopped in between the four of them. Each of them numbly stood, taking great care to not disturb the grip each had on her child or children as they gathered around Nico. Karolina stepped forward, stopping directly behind Nico and putting her hands on her wife's shoulders to lend what support she could to her wife.

 

Nico raised the Staff as high as she could. _“Bring these children back to life!”_ she called out.

 

The Staff's headpiece sparked to life, blazing white before turning a bright green, then a violet. It sizzled with power, casting a violet light upon all of them, but the bodies of the children never stirred.

 

“ _BRING THEM BACK!”_ Nico screamed, squeezing the Staff and pouring power and anguish into the artifact.

 

Still nothing happened. The small bodies remained motionless and pallid in the arms of their mothers.

 

Nico screamed again, this time guttural and with no discernible words as hurt and frustration and power blasted out of her and the Staff of One alike.

 

Rocks around her turned into soap bubbles before popping with screams. Shadows began to draw in toward Nico, spraying flecks of black onto the ground and objects around them, as if the darkness itself was capable of crying. Trails of smoke rising upward from nearby fires turned into a golden liquid that hit the ground with a weighty crash, then exploded into clouds of pink vapor that sparkled and sizzled like fireworks before vanishing. Dusty rain began to fall upward, continuing for several seconds before ceasing, leaving a dirty haze in the air.

 

Abruptly, all the impossible phenomena ceased, then vanished. Nico's arm dropped to her side, and the Staff fell from her grip once more, clattering to the ground. Seconds later, she followed the Staff to the ground, dropping to her knees in defeat.

 

“They're... they're gone,” Nico said, no longer caring if she cried in front of her family. “Their souls are gone.”

 

“ _He took their SOULS?!”_ shrieked Pandora, face flushing with rage. She shook for several seconds, struggling with composure before a forced calm dropped over her features. Gently, she released the bodies of her children, lowering them carefully to the ground with white light. Once their tiny forms had been laid next to each other, Dori stared at her children, tears dripping off her cheeks and chin. She then looked up and positioned her fingers to cast a location spell, requiring two failed attempts due to her hands shaking before getting the spell to work; the return of the sending was almost instant.

 

“Los Angeles,” she said grimly, looking at Persephone, then Gloriana, then Lenore before blasting away from the ground.

 

When Dori took off, it felt like all the air around her went with her briefly, drawn into her wake as she shot away from the ruins of Crater. The crash of the sonic boom shook everything, and before the reverberations could stop, Persephone and Gloriana had launched themselves into the sky as well. Persephone's silver magic carefully lowered the bodies of Coraline and Lydia to the ground beside their cousins as two more sonic booms shook the Crater compound.

 

Karolina looked lost, her face vacillating between despondency and a forlorn anger as she looked at Nico, unsure of where to go, or what to do. Nico quietly opened her arms, gathering the taller blonde in as they both started crying again.

 

“Mama,” Lenore said, her voice strained. “Mom!”

 

Karolina turned to look at Lenore, who was rising to her feet and staring intensely at something behind her and Nico. Nico opened her mouth to speak, but the words died in her throat as she smelled an odor that was immediately recognizable.

 

Sulphur. Saltpeter. Terror sweat. Grave dirt. Burnt bodies.

 

“Mephisto,” Nico said, not turning around just yet.

 

—O—

 

The mystic blast that Pandora unleashed at Jacob, hovering in burning incandescence over Mann's Chinese Theater, would have been powerful enough to shatter windows two blocks over if it had any physical manifestation.

 

It didn't. Her moms had taught her better than that.

 

The impact against his spirit caught Jacob utterly off-guard, bypassing his energy shield and spinning him in place before his brain could register the distinctive energy resonance of one of his nieces.

 

Pandora hesitated for a moment to enjoy her uncle's—whom she had always thought was a creep, especially because he was just a few years older than her and had always taken an uncomfortable interest in her—discomfort as metaphysical fire seared through his soul.

 

She wasn't prepared for the vicious blast of light and energy that exploded out of Jacob's body, sending her tumbling up and backward. The buildings and people below them, however, weren't able to absorb most of the blast's energy like Pandora. Brick and concrete crumbled, glass shattered, metal groaned and shrieked, bodies went sent crashing and tumbling in all directions.

 

Despite the lingering burning he felt deep inside, Jacob was so seething with stolen energy that even the effects of the strike at his spirit were rapidly fading.

 

“You ungrateful little bitch!” Jacob yelled at Pandora as the blonde stabilized her tumble and reoriented herself, facing him again.

 

“Ungrateful?!” Pandora yelled back. “You killed my BABIES, you fucking asshole!”

 

“I freed you from your pitiful attachments to lesser beings!”

 

“You drained _their souls_ , you fucking creep!”

 

Any further talk was forestalled by the arrival of Persephone, who immediately bound Jacob's arms with ghostly silver chains that appeared around both his forearms, and Gloriana, who furiously pounded at the hard light of his energy field.

 

“We're going to fucking _kill you!”_ Gloriana screamed in his face as the man turned to face her. Gloriana started to add something else, but her tirade was interrupted by twin beams of light bursting from Jacob's eyes, impacting her in the face with enough force to send her falling to earth, smashing into and through the wall of a ten-story office building below.

 

—O—

 

Slowly, Nico turned, still holding Karolina. She angled their bodies so that she could turn her head and look at the tall, leering figure of Mephisto, embodiment of evil, while mostly interposing her own body between the demon lord and Karolina.

 

“To properly give credit where credit's due,” said Mephisto, in his typical guise of a humanoid male with pale red skin, dark red hair and a height of over two meters, “the souls of those sweet, innocent children went to me, not to Brother Dearest.”

 

Nico felt Karolina flinch at the devil's words, and the jet-haired witch held her wife a bit more tightly as she fought to maintain her own self-control. A slip of the tongue could prove catastrophic facing him, although admittedly things were already well beyond that point.

 

“Why?” Nico managed to speak, her mouth tight.

 

“Why?” replied the tall demon, grinning with delight. “Because I want to make you and everyone you love suffer, you smug little tart. _Obviously_.”

 

“They hadn't ever done anything to spite you,” Karolina said, trying to turn to face Mephisto but with Nico trying to prevent that from happening.

 

“Their very existence spited me,” sneered the devil. “As does yours, and that of the creature you cling to like a mewling babe.” Mephisto paused, sporting a smile that made Nico wince. “Oh, dear me, perhaps 'babe' wasn't the best choice of words. Too soon?”

 

“I'll return this to you a hundred times, Mephisto,” Nico said coldly.

 

“Oh, I seriously doubt that, arrogant whelp,” the demon replied. “You see, there's simply nothing that I care about to the extent that you mortals attach to your pathetic offspring. It makes you so _easy_ to manipulate.”

 

Something in the way the devil spoke made the hairs on the back of Nico's neck stand warily. She carefully replayed his words in her head, a useful trick Stephen Strange had taught her years ago about dealing with the devil.

 

He had hurt them, yes, but he specifically used the word _manipulate_. Was he just referring to the cultists, or was he still talking about Nico and her family?

 

The grin on Mephisto's face somehow widened. “Ah, _so_ deep in thought, aren't you?” he said jovially. “Always trying to read between the lines. It's one of your worst qualities, I must say.”

 

The sudden blast of light nearly blinded Nico as Karolina pulled out of Nico's embrace; the witch's eyes snapped shut reflexively to protect her vision. She opened her mystic senses to “see” Karolina blasting Mephisto with a furious stream of pink and gold light, the blonde's face clenched in rage.

 

“YOU KILLED OUR GRANDCHILDREN!” Karolina shouted, using her flight to slide her body around Nico, shielding her wife from the energy she was pouring out, trying to vaporize Mephisto. “YOU FUCKING _MONSTER!”_

 

The grin on the demon's face soured into a mild frown as he essentially ignored enough energy to fuse sand to glass and melt titanium.

 

Karolina added her other arm to the blast she was generating, but still no reaction from the demon as he stood in the sizzling stream of light.

 

Lifting his chin slightly to peer at Nico over the stream of pink light, Mephisto said, “Is she always this emotional? I suppose there could be certain situations where such proclivities might be _amusing_ , but it's a bit annoying right now.”

 

Karolina screamed again, intensifying her sustained blast of energy to the point that the papers scattered around them and the splinted bits of wood furniture began to smolder and smoke.

 

Lenore gently put her arms around Karolina from behind. “Mom,” the dark-haired woman said gently, then louder, “MOM.”

 

The pink light abruptly ceased, leaving Karolina panting, her face twisting in rage and frustration. Lenore gently turned her mom at her waist, pulling Karolina into a hug as they both broke down and sobbed.

 

“They're—they're gone,” Karolina mumbled as she held her daughter tightly. “The babies are gone...”

 

Lenore nodded against her mom's shoulder, having to be on her tip toes to get her head close to Karolina's level. She was unable to say anything, her heart throbbing with anguish, so she just clung to her mom with the desperation of a drowning woman.

 

“No,” Nico said, her voice cold as ice and twice as hard. “NO. Fuck this!”

 

Lenore and Karolina lifted their heads and turned to look at Nico, whose face was flushing a bright red.

 

“FUCK! THIS!” Nico yelled, as the Staff of One flew up from the ground and slapped into her right hand. “You DON'T get to do this, Mephisto!” The Staff's headpiece blazed with white light, tinged with purple instead of yellow this time.

 

The air around them darkened, as if the sun had gone behind a thick cloud, but a glance upward revealed that no clouds were visible in the sky.

 

The gaze Nico leveled at the demon lord was every bit as hostile and venomous as anything Mephisto himself could have manifested. “You just hurt my family worse than anyone _ever_ has,” Nico said, her voice tight and dripping with scorn. “And when you hurt my family, when you cause us pain... you make us _more powerful.”_

 

—O—

 

Persephone jerked at the spiritual feedback when Jacob snapped the mystic chains she had bound him with, the pain penetrating the numbness that had settled over her after holding the lifeless bodies of her daughters.

 

_How did this shithead get so fucking powerful?_

 

Gloriana, with her usual lack of delicacy or pretense, shot toward Jacob and punched him directly in the side of the head, hard enough to powder reinforced concrete. His energy field neutralized most of the blow's force, but it was still strong enough to break his jaw and snap his head backward. As his head returned to its usual position, Jacob's body glowed as he diverted a sliver of the life energy stolen from his nieces to heal himself instantly; he then blasted Gloriana backward with a spherical shockwave that broke grass, cracked concrete and slammed people to the ground two hundred meters below them.

 

A gleaming white whip wrapped around Jacob's throat, brimming with energy both luminous and mystical. Pandora yanked on the energy weapon, tightening her grip on her uncle's throat as she tried to use the charged magic weapon to tear through Jacob's throat like a bandsaw.

 

Gloriana focused on the struggle momentarily, then turned her head to look at Pandora. The younger blonde held Gloriana's gaze, then she gave her sister-in-law a single curt nod.

 

The brunette suddenly shot away, the Mach cone caused by her flight booming in her wake as she vanished from sight.

 

It only took Persephone, her nerve endings still stinging and burning from the spiritual feedback of Jacob breaking her bindings, a few seconds to realize what her wife was about to do. “No!” she shouted out of reflex, though speech was useless at the speed her wife was flying. “NO, WAIT!”

 

Jacob was still struggling against Pandora's surprisingly vicious attack. He was devoting most of his energy field to stave off decapitation from her mystic weapon augmented with her own light energy, leaving much of his form, cells filled to saturation with life energy, relatively unshielded.

 

Jacob was a powder keg of spiritual and light energy, and they were hovering over a population center of ten million people.

 

—O—

 

The sudden blur of Gloriana streaking over Crater, flying back toward Los Angeles at many times faster than the speed of sound, was there and gone so quickly that Nico, Karolina and Lenore never even noticed her passage.

 

—O—

 

Persephone started creating the shield below them to contain the explosion she could see coming, but she wasn't fast enough. Gloriana was flying at near-interstellar speeds, covering miles in fractions of a second, and the incredible force with which she hit Jacob was enough to trigger a cascading eruption of the energy held in his body.

 

—O—

 

Over fifty miles away, the force of the explosion over Los Angeles was still powerful enough to hurl Nico, Karolina and Lenore off their feet, sending them to the earth as much of the damaged sections of Crater completed their collapse and fell. The undamaged sections, built to withstand earthquakes, held up much better, but people all across the vast compound were still thrown to the ground by the shockwave.

 

“What was _that?!”_ Lenore hissed as she got back to her feet, forgetting to use her flight in her current state.

 

“That was the inevitable death of your dear, foolish Uncle Jacob,” said Mephisto with obvious delight. “He truly didn't stand a chance, not against several of you properly motivated about killing him. All that rich energy he stole from your precious children, combined with powerful 'heroes' blinded by grief and rage... Ah, it was inevitable that things would end, shall we say, _explosively_.”

 

“Nico,” Karolina said, looking at her wife. The rage on the blonde's face had been replaced by shock and either guilt or regret; Nico wasn't sure, so much had hit them in the last few minutes, but it was only adding to Karolina's tender heart, already overwhelmed by grief.

 

Nico reached out, feeling in the direction of Los Angeles. The intense wave of fear was rapidly being subsumed by swelling grief, anguish, loss. Death. _So_ much death. Souls screaming, torn from bodies that crumbled to dust in the blast of radiation and plasma that rivaled that of a nuclear bomb.

 

“It's... it's bad, Kar,” she managed to get out through lips that were tingling and flirting with numbness as her head pounded, her mystic senses drowning in the waves of anguish and suffering that boiled out from what had been Los Angeles. “Tens, hundreds of thousands.” She shuddered again. “Maybe _millions_. Dead.”

 

“And it will only escalate,” added a smirking Mephisto. “After all, do you think the vermin on this miserable planet will allow an _alien_ , someone _different_ , to commit mass murder without swift retaliation?”

 

“Shit,” Nico hissed, a cold chill settling over her body as she realized where the devil was going.

 

“Every Majesdanian on Earth is going to be blamed for this,” Lenore said breathlessly. “Even though they don't deserve it.”

 

“They'll be easy targets,” Nico agreed. “Emotions are already tense between the two worlds. This will—”

 

There was a painful pause for several seconds, until the red-skinned demon spoke.

 

“I don't think _war_ is too strong a word,” he said cheerily. “Perhaps even _genocide_. That's one of my favorites, you know. It's so rare I get to use it nowadays.”

 

“No,” Nico said again; the crackling of the electricity in the Staff's headpiece grew louder. “You don't get to pull this shit, Mephisto. You don't get to destroy a city. You don't get to start an interplanetary war! _You don't get to kill our fucking grandkids!”_

 

The devil easily met the much-shorter woman's glare. He leaned forward and down, until their faces were less than two meters apart. “I already _have_ ,” he replied calmly, his smile never wavering.

 

Nico never looked away from his black and red eyes as she shifted the Staff to her left hand, then extended her right arm and hand toward Karolina and Lenore.

 

Without hesitation, Karolina quickly stepped over, taking Nico's hand. Lenore followed, taking Karolina's other hand.

 

“Nico,” Karolina asked hesitantly. She could feel the power building inside Nico even before she took her wife's hand, but now the magic boiling up inside the witch as she glared at the demon looming over them was enough to make the hairs on Karolina's arms and neck stand up. “What are you about to do?”

 

“Fix all this,” Nico replied firmly. “Even if it kills me.”

 

“One can only hope,” Mephisto added, his smile increasing as he rubbed his hands together with anticipation.

 

“Nico...”

 

Ignoring Karolina's concern, Nico thrust the Staff of One upward. _“REWIND!”_ she shouted, loosing the power she had been building up with a clap of thunder that shook through Karolina's and Lenore's bodies.

 

“Can she do that?!” Karolina whispered, turning to Lenore.

 

Lenore shook her head, afraid to so much as hope. “I-I don't think so. She's not that powerful, I don't think, but... maybe?”

 

Nico's eyes glowed with violet light that matched the haze forming around the white electricity crackling through the Staff's headpiece. Around her, she felt things start to slow, everything except Karolina and Lenore. She poured more power into the Staff, picturing the ashen bodies of Lydia, of Coraline, of Sabrina and Blair and Ligeia. She took her anguish, her heartbreak, and thrust it into the Staff. The flow of raw power began to burn her hand, but she took that pain and added it to the magic as well, as time around them slowed to a halt.

 

But it steadfastly refused to reverse.

 

“DO IT!” Nico screamed, channeling her will against an inexorable force multiplied by the volume of the universe.

 

In desperation, she formed a glowing purple blade in the air in front her, using her desperation to slice it across her left thigh, sending trickles of blood winding down her leg. When the additional pain still wasn't enough, she repeated the process on her right thigh as well.

 

“Nico!” Karolina cried out, horrified at the sight of her wife maiming herself trying to summon more power. “Nico, babe, STOP!”

 

Nico tried to ignore Karolina shouting and yanking on her right arm, tried to focus on the burning pain in her left hand, on the bleeding and stinging from the cuts on her legs, on the need to make things right once more. She strained until her head pounded and her ears screamed, mentally plunging herself into the cold, bitter darkness of despair and power, not caring if she ever emerged again so long as she succeeded in her impossible task.

 

The world fell away from her, the morning sunlight vanishing as she turned inward, seeking more pain to add to her power. She pulled out memories of self-loathing, of inadequacy, of loss and rejection; she clawed them out from where they had been buried under years of love and acceptance, clinging to them like a tattered security blanket. She told herself she was a failure, that she would only ever let down those who loved her, trying to boost her magic but instead plunging herself in an uncontrolled spiral of grief and shame as she emotionally coiled in on herself, alone in the darkness of her thoughts.

 

But of all the people Nico had ever met, one of them had always been able to follow her into that inner darkness and find her, no matter how badly she was lost.

 

Light filled Nico's thoughts as she felt Karolina's touch against her soul, a warmth standing against the icy despair that threatened to claim her.

 

 _I will always find you_.

 

With a gasp of breath, Nico released the spell, letting time move forward once more.

 

“Oh, _delightful!”_ Mephisto crowed, relishing the trails of blood seeping down the front of Nico's legs. “Don't stop now! Try again, please!”

 

Ignoring the demon, Nico lowered her head and turned to Karolina, stepping forward into the blonde's waiting arms.

 

“It's too much, Kar,” the smaller woman admitted quietly, feeling as infinitesimal as a mote of dust as her wife wrapped the smaller woman in her arms, ignoring the blood on Nico's legs as the two of them pressed together. “I... I can't turn it back.”

 

Karolina rubbed Nico's back, trying to ignore the tears still flowing down her cheeks. Nico needed her, and she'd be strong for her wife, but seeing Nico physically hurt herself had shaken Karolina, and the blonde was still emotionally heaving. “We'll... We'll get through it, Nico. Somehow. We'll help the girls get through this.”

 

“I'm not giving up yet,” Nico said. “There are some other things I can try, to boost my power. I'm not letting them go. I'm not letting my asshole brother-in-law cause the death of millions of people, either.”

 

The deep laugh that came from behind Nico made Karolina shiver.

 

“I look forward to your next doomed attempt,” Mephisto finally said, after his mirth subsided. “What _will_ you sacrifice next, I wonder?”

 

“Mama,” Lenore said softly, lightly grasping Nico's left arm.

 

Nico looked up into a face much like what she saw in the mirror, with the exception of deep blue eyes that peered directly into her, reflecting the pain Nico felt in her own heart.

 

“It's not going to work,” Lenore said, her chin quivering. “If their souls _are_ g-gone... you can't bring them back.”

 

“I can if I can reverse time. Not long, just a few minutes. Enough to stop this before it happened.”

 

“ _Mama_. You're talking about reversing time for _everything_ , for the whole universe. You can't do that.”

 

Behind them, Mephisto laughed cruelly. “How does that make you feel, 'Sorcerer Supreme,' to know that you can't bring back the litters of your offspring? That for the rest of your mortal lives, all of you will know that something precious is missing, because you failed?”

 

“I won't stop,” Nico declared, turning to face Mephisto directly, her eyes glaring cold daggers at him. “You know I won't, you asshole.”

 

“Oh, I'm _counting_ on it! I look forward to years of watching you struggle impossibly, growing more and more desperate, pushing everyone else away, torturing those who love you as you fall deeper and deeper into manic despair as you fail, over and over and over!”

 

“You'll find a way,” Karolina said, somehow managing to find a weak smile for Nico, who turned around and looked up at her wife incredulously.

 

Karolina didn't shy away from the look Nico was giving her; instead, she strengthened her smile. “I believe in you, Nico,” she said tenderly. “You'll find a way.”

 

Nico didn't think she had any tears left to cry, but as she stared into those soft blue, bloodshot eyes, she felt Karolina's right hand come up and cover her cheek, and Nico felt a new wetness wind its way down her left cheek.

 

“You're the bravest, most stubborn person I've ever known,” Karolina said, her voice tender but raw in its sincerity. “And that's just part of why I love you. _You'll find a way.”_

 

“Why don't you try again?” offered Mephisto, still grinning. “Maybe it'll work this time!”

 

“Ignore him,” Karolina said to her wife. “Don't give him the satisfaction.”

 

“We could destroy his corporeal form,” Lenore whispered. “Give us a few minutes of silence, maybe.”

 

“Even just his manifestation is nearly indestructible,” replied Nico, her throat burning from her previous screams. “Destroying it would take as much power as—”

 

A soft snap of Mephisto's fingers made the three woman look at the demon once more.

 

“Oh, I know what might work!” the demon spoke facetiously, a show of obviously fake excitement on his visage. “You could use the _Infinity Gauntlet!”_ Dramatically, his expression fell, becoming overly forlorn. “Oh, wait, that won't work after all,” he said gloomily. “Three decades too late. What a shame.”

 

Nico's head snapped up, meeting Karolina's eyes for a charged moment. “Holy fuck,” Nico said breathlessly, drawing dumbfounded looks from both Karolina and Lenore.

 

“Nico—”

 

“Mama, what—”

 

Nico took a half-step back, disengaging from her wife and daughter. She reached up with her free right hand and grasped the Eye of Agamotto where it rested at her sternum. A quick tug and a mental command broke the thin chain around her neck holding it in place, letting Nico hold the Eye in her hand in front of her, resting on the palm of her upturned hand.

 

“I don't have the power to turn back time for the entire universe, even with my fucking heart ripped out and broken,” Nico said. Karolina rubbed Nico's left upper arm in sympathy, but she had no idea what her wife was about to do. “But on a much _smaller_ scale...”

 

Nico lifted the Staff in her left hand; anticipating its master, the crackling light inside the Staff's headpiece, white chased with a purple tint, grew brighter.

 

“ _Reverse time, narrow focus!”_ Nico said firmly, her heart pounding as her eyes locked onto the Eye resting in her hand.

 

Nico felt the invisible flow of time around the Eye stop, then begin to swiftly tick backwards. She concentrated on keeping the effect on the Eye as minutes, then hours, then days, weeks, months began to race past. She held the effect, unsure of exactly how far back she needed to go, only that she did, because of a secret that only a Sorcerer Supreme would know and—

 

The sudden pulse of power that bloomed against her palm nearly made her drop the Eye when she felt it. It took Nico a second and a decade to stop the time reversal, and as the glow of the Staff returned to its normal intensity, Nico saw as well as felt her left hand tremble as she released the Staff to hang obediently at her side.

 

Carefully she moved her left hand to the Eye and gently laid it atop the golden artifact; there was no external change whatsoever, but the power it now held, that _she_ now held, was immeasurable.

 

Karolina and Lenore were both breathless. They couldn't see anything, not even with their expanded vision, but there was a feeling like the air had suddenly become weightier, commanding their attention.

 

With a light touch to the Eye and a command for it to open, Nico moved her left hand to the side as a thin line appeared along the Eye's midline, widening as the artifact's front slid apart to reveal a small stone glowing an intense pale green.

 

“Oh my god, Mama,” Lenore breathed out, her brown eyes reflecting the viridian gleam of the Infinity Stone.

 

Karolina's lower face went numb and her ears began to buzz as her blood pressure skyrocketed, her mind trying to make sense of the impossible energies she was seeing with her widened range of vision. “Nico,” she began, only to have trouble forming more words. “Is—“

 

“Yes,” Nico replied flatly, her own gaze fixed on the modestly-sized object with the power to affect the universe. Her eyes flicked up, meeting Karolina's uneasy stare looking back at her.

 

“Which one?” Karolina asked softly.

 

“The one I need,” Nico replied as her eyes drifted back down to the Time Stone. She reached to her left side, her fingers closing once more around the warm ebony wood of the Staff's handle.

 

Behind her, the Devil was finally, blissfully silent.

 

Nico brought the Staff around, lowering it until the headpiece was less than a meter away from the Time Stone. She hesitated for a bare second, then moved the headpiece even closer.

 

When the circular headpiece was only a few centimeters away from the Eye, the green gem shot upward, embedding itself in the center of the electricity pulsing through the Staff's headpiece with a soft _pop_. White instantly turned green, and Nico felt power unlike anything she had ever dreamed blast through her body, as she was intimately bound to the Staff.

 

Released from the mitigating properties of the Eye, the Time Stone's power streamed forth unimpeded. The swell of pain that burned through Nico and the Staff tore a hiss from the jet-haired woman's lips. She felt the cells of her body heat up, felt her hair rise and start to smolder as the wood and metal of the Staff began to shimmer with a green light and limn with green smoke as the immense power of infinity tested the limits of human and artifact.

 

This was power that could consume her utterly, burn her alive, searing nerves and flesh and bone in its glorious radiance if she and the Staff held it too long.

 

Nico was fine with that risk. It would be an acceptable sacrifice, because as she burned alive, she'd use her pain as fuel and finally have all the power she needed for what she had planned.

 

She started to raise the Staff when a single word made her pause.

 

“Mama.”

 

Trembling with might begging to be released, Nico slowly, carefully turned to see Lenore, arms crossed protectively over her chest, standing directly in front of her.

 

“My body's _meant_ to store and process energy, Mama,” Lenore said, quietly but firmly. “Yours isn't.”

 

Nico didn't move, her normally brown eyes now glowing pale green as she gazed at a determined Lenore. “I-I can't ask this of you,” she managed to say. “I can feel all the Stone's power, trying to consume me. But I can hold it off long enough to use it.”

 

The younger witch drew in a shaky breath, and her chin quivered briefly as a look of sorrow slid over her face. She took a step closer to the mother she took after, the one she resembled so much, not just in appearance but also in demeanor... and determination.

 

“You lost your grandkids,” Lenore said slowly, her body now visibly trembling as her eyes burned with intensity. “But I lost my _child_.” Tears fell as Lenore held her ground in front of her mother. “And no other pain in the universe can compare to _that_.”

 

Despite the searing agony racing through her body, Nico forced herself to take a long, deep breath to consider the somber truth of her daughter's words.

 

Mother and daughter held each other's intense gaze, glowing green staring at watery blue for several seconds as Nico felt the Time Stone's unimaginable power smolder inside her, beginning to combust her body even with the Staff mitigating its might.

 

She was the mother. Lenore was the child, though now grown. If there was going to be a sacrifice, then it should be the parent, not the child, the one who had already lived her life, not the one with so much yet to experience and enjoy.

 

But Lenore was right. Pain was their power, and right now her pain was greater than Nico's. And Nico, for all her faults, had never been one to shy away from hard truths or difficult decisions.

 

Slowly, Nico extended her arm, presenting the Staff of One to her middle daughter.

 

The searing pressure in her body ebbed as Nico released the Staff and Lenore's fingers closed around it. The boiling energy leapt from Nico's body, leaving behind a void. The loss of the burning that had come with the power was a relief, but accompanying that relief was a feeling of loss, of giving up something that had been a part of Nico and could never be regained. But Nico understood.

 

The Staff of One was passed from mother to daughter. Nico had carried that power, that responsibility, that burden, for nearly thirty years. It was time to let it go.

 

Lenore gasped as the Stone's power raced into her, stealing her breath as her mind tried to comprehend the primal force suffusing every bit of her, threatening to engulf and obliterate her and the Staff like scraps of paper in an inferno.

 

She swallowed and thought of her baby daughter. Of dressing her for the day, in a little black-and-red baby dress with skulls and bones printed on the soft fabric. Of smiling and kissing Ligeia goodbye only a few hours ago, and the happy smile that her dark-haired baby gave her after that last kiss as her tiny hand reached up and grabbed Lenore's long, dark hair. Of holding her child's cold, limp body to her chest and knowing there was a hole in her spirit, a raw, jagged wound in _her_ , that could never be filled again.

 

Lenore took her pain, her loss, and she fed it to the Staff, as her mama had described many times over the years. She felt the pain from the Stone's burning might diminish as her own power swelled. Her body bloomed into incandescence, her normal deep green glow becoming lighter, nearly an aqua, as her light shifted to match that of the Time Stone.

 

She looked at the bodies of her daughter and her nieces, laid out in a heartbreaking row on the dirty ground, and she let her sobs begin again as she slowly went down to her knees. She thought of all the moments she'd never experience, all the joy and possibilities and love and laughter that had been cruelly ripped away, and she let her heart break even more. She thought not just of her and her husband Jimmy's loss, but at her sisters' loss, their moms' loss, the loss of everyone that was going to be affected by the cataclysm in Los Angeles, and she felt her spirit buckle under the enormity of the moment, of the death and suffering.

 

Nico and Karolina stepped forward, each woman reaching down and placing a hand on one of Lenore's shoulders in silent support. Lenore could barely feel the hands on her shoulders due to the energy thrumming in her body, but she could feel that she wasn't alone, and she used that quiet but steadfast reinforcement as she threw her head back and lifted the Staff upward, clutching it tightly with both hands.

 

“ _IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME!”_

 

For a prolonged, charged second, reality stopped—then it began racing backward.

 

The scene around them shook, then a brilliant flash of light miles away signaled the rebirth, not death, of Los Angeles.

 

Mephisto's mouth worked, the sounds garbled as his movements and actions reversed until he vanished, his appearance yet to occur.

 

Around them, the structure that was the residential wing of Crater reformed, concrete and steel and wood and sheetrock rising from rubble and coming back together to fuse into an only-half-ruined state for the moment. Fire swept through the large room, leaving intact furniture as ashes formed into bodies. Those bodies jerked upright as bullets plucked themselves out of their victims, returning to the muzzles of guns before flashes popped at those openings.

 

Blue light floated backward into the room as Karolina's brother Jacob turned to face the now-living bodies of the Crater nursery staff. Five small, ashen bodies rose from the ground to float into the air between the distraught workers and their great-uncle Jacob, his face sickeningly gleeful as he held them in the air before him. His blue light became eye-searingly intense as the toddlers and babies suddenly began to move.

 

The toddlers and babies went from white and gray to brilliant colors: coppery red, bright gold, soft orange, intense pink and a soft lavender. Jacob's blue light faded to a softer glow around him as he now floated backward out of the room, leaving eight armed men and women brandishing guns at the caregivers.

 

“She's doing it,” Karolina breathed out, watching as history was undone, only the three of them, all still touching, witness to the impossible happening.

 

“Yeah, but it's killing her,” Nico replied. Lenore's shoulder grew painfully hot under Nico's hand. Smoke was starting to rise from Lenore's jet hair, and the Staff itself began to visibly smolder.

 

With only a momentary glance shared between them, the two mothers reached for the Staff, unknowing what would happen to them now that the artifact had changed masters but equally unconcerned about the risk to themselves if it meant saving their daughter.

 

Transfixed by the blinding power consuming her and the pain that resulted from that power, Lenore concentrated on her loss, on her grief as she took her bodily pain and emotional anguish and continued to draw from them both, adding to the near-infinite power of the Time Stone as she pushed existence back farther, farther. There were others to save, people who had been kind and loving and gentle, people who hadn't deserved to die at the hands of her homicidal uncle and his zealots. Lenore was going to save them too, as many of them as she could before the infinity stone's power destroyed her.

 

Then the searing pain flowing through her unexpectedly ebbed, startling Lenore and causing the reversal of time to sputter.

 

Her eyes shot open, letting her see her moms reaching over her to hold the Staff with her, Karolina's hand above Lenore's, Nico's below. Both of them glowed and burned with the same unstoppable green energy as they smiled proudly at their daughter.

 

The swell of relief, of _love_ that burst within Lenore's heart broke the feedback loop of pain and power, and around them time snapped to a halt, no longer flowing backward but not yet resuming its regular course.

 

Green tears flowed down Lenore's cheeks, the liquid's color matching the Time Stone's hue as the young witch looked up to her left, then to her right.

 

“We're proud of you,” Karolina spoke, an electrical crackle audible in her voice.

 

“And we love you,” Nico added, the same staticky hiss in her words.

 

Lenore chanced taking a moment to catch her breath, now that the stone's power was at a (slightly) more tolerable level. She could feel the natural flow of the universe around them held in check, an uneasy pause in the march toward entropy, as the Time Stone seethed with power.

 

“I could undo so much,” Lenore whispered, thoughts of loss and injustices and sacrifices made by billions over the millennia swirling through her mind. “Fix so much more.”

 

A soft kiss pressed on her forehead, just above her eyebrow, brought her cosmic focus back to immediacy.

 

“You've done enough,” Karolina whispered, a smile audible in her voice.

 

Time remained stilled, ready to resume its determined flow, its unspoken demands evident in the pulsing energy that was barely contained between the three of them and the Staff.

 

“It's too much power,” Nico said firmly. “For any of us.” She lifted her right hand, the open Eye of Agamotto resting in her upturned hand.

 

Lenore turned to meet Nico's gaze, searching intense brown eyes that now reflected the green in her own. She nodded.

 

She lowered the Staff's headpiece until it was just centimeters above the open Eye. Nico mirrored the motion, lifting the Eye until the Time Stone was only millimeters away from the empty Eye, then she looked over at Lenore expectantly.

 

With a hint of regret at things being left undone, Lenore released the time reversal.

 

As time hungrily snapped back to its regular flow, Karolina reacted immediately, throwing her arms out to project a luminous pink dome around the caregivers and children with her left hand while also emitting a blast of energy from her right hand that blew Jacob's followers across the room, knocking them to the floor and scattering them as several guns clattered to the ground.

 

Nico and Lenore remained focused on the three artifacts: the combined Time Stone and Staff of One, and the open Eye of Agamotto. Carefully Lenore lifted her left hand toward the three artifacts. Green light, this time the deeper green of Lenore's sorcery, flared around the fingers of her left hand; with a gentle tug, she used her magic to pluck the Time Stone from its position in the Staff's headpiece.

 

Instantly the boiling energy that had been trying to consume her vanished, leaving her disconcertedly cold inside. She tried to ignore the empty sensation as she used her magic to gently return the Time Stone to the interior of the Eye, releasing it to settle into the padded recess hidden within the artifact.

 

With a wave of her free hand, Nico closed the Eye, hiding the infinity stone once more.

 

“It's not finished yet,” Nico said. “You'll still have to use the Staff to move the Eye and stone back to their proper time.”

 

“But we have to—”

 

Nico rolled her eyes at Lenore. She impatiently waved her right hand toward the ground, leaving a trail of purple light as it swept downward. With an unsettling hiss, the shadows around them lengthened and began to swell, breaking their two dimensions as they rose up and took on animalistic shapes, wolf-like quadrupeds that stood as tall at their shoulders as Nico herself. Their bodies were entirely composed of inky blackness, the only color to be found in their forms being the smoldering violet of their glowing eyes.

 

“Fetch,” Nico said.

 

Instantly the pack burst into motion, over a dozen separate creatures launching forward. Three of them tore into the cultists in the room with them, quickly savaging the ones who tried to fight back or shoot them. Some dove into corners, vanishing impossibly to emerge at sites of conflict elsewhere in the compound, while others simply ran through the walls to pursue other cultists, leaving behind only dark wisps that rapidly dissipated into the air.

 

“Asshole cultists dealt with,” Nico said tersely, meeting Lenore's blue eyes again. “Now—”

 

The door to the nursery suite blew inward, trailed by a beam of blue-white light that splintered the door as it flew forward.

 

The glowing form of Jacob drifted through the door, smug confidence on his face. That confidence vanished as he was hit by a brilliant pink streak, catching him just below the sternum and knocking the breath out of him. Karolina continued to accelerate, driving Jacob back through the door, then into and through the wall, using his body to smash through the wood and concrete into the open air.

 

Lenore stared at the hole in the wall on the other side of the hallway before turning to look at Nico again. “What's Mom doing?” she quickly asked.

 

“Killing his dumb ass, most likely,” her other mother replied calmly, turning to look at her shadow beasts and their work as the angry screaming of the cultists was replaced by weak groans and cries of pain. “The dickhead's had it coming for years.”

 

“And we're letting her do it?!”

 

Nico turned back to Lenore, an expression between annoyance and amusement on her face as her brown eyes sharply focused on her daughter. “Are _you_ going to go out there and try to stop her?”

 

—O—

 

“YOU WERE GOING TO KILL THEM!” Karolina screamed at her brother as she grabbed him by the hair and changed her flight path to shoot upward, dragging the gasping Jacob with her.

 

“K-Karo—” Jacob stammered, his words cut off as Karolina bodily turned toward him, yanking him upward by the hair so she could drive her right fist into the side of his head. The punch sent Jacob reeling to the side as their momentum continue to carry them upward, nearly half a mile above Crater at this point.

 

“Karo...lina,” Jacob wheezed, finally able to breath again. He looked over at his furious older sister, then his look of helplessness shifted into anger as he suddenly thrust his arms forward to generate a wide beam of blue-white energy hot enough to melt steel.

 

He held the stream of energy for several seconds before ceasing, only to be confronted with an even-more-brightly-glowing and even-more-angry Karolina.

 

“Never fought someone who can absorb your energy before, have you, Jacob?” she snapped at him, every muscle in her body eager to tear him apart, related or no. “Otherwise you wouldn't be stupid enough to make them _even more_ powerful.”

 

“The Church is mine!” the young man shouted. “It should rightfully be MINE! You care _nothing_ for it!”

 

Karolina held his wild gaze as she shot back, “What _I_ care about is the _people_ of Gibborim, as I _always_ have, and the only thing that _you_ deserve is something I should have done years ago, when you killed Mom!”

 

With a snarl, Jacob shot forward, a flash of blue light, hands reaching for Karolina's hair. The blonde slid out of his way, rolling over in the air and then accelerating to match his speed, so that she was directly above his back. She used her flight to launch herself downward, driving her right knee into his back between his shoulder blades and sending them blazing toward the ground.

 

“I'll kill you!” Jacob shouted, trying to reach behind his back to dislodge Karolina. “I'm younger than you! I'm stronger than you!”

 

“You're not killing anyone ever again,” Karolina shouted back, grabbing his arms and holding them behind his back as the ground rapidly rose to meet them.

 

—O—

 

Karolina's dome of pink light over the children and caregivers abruptly vanished. Immediately matching twitches of left hands and fingers created nesting bubbles of protection around the caregivers and children huddled together, a purple bubble manifesting right before it was enclosed by a larger green one. Moments later, a violent impact nearby shook the ground Nico and Lenore were standing on.

 

“Mom?” Lenore asked Nico, concern on her face.

 

Nico 's expression remained composed. “Kar's fine. She dropped her dome _before_ the impact. That means she shielded herself before whoever it was hit the ground.” A slight scowl stretched her lips out slightly as she fixed her middle daughter with a stern look. “Now _please_ put this damn thing back in time where it belongs so I can stop worrying about it,” she said, holding up the Eye and its hidden contents.

 

Trepidation flared across Lenore's face. “I, um, I—” she stammered, only to be cut off by a quick swipe of the Eye out of her line of sight, replaced by the irritated face of her mother.

 

“Lenore Dean!” Nico said firmly. “You are the most _ridiculously_ capable sorceress at your age that I have ever known, _and_ you've got the Staff of One! Now stop fucking around and put this thing back to its proper position in the timestream!”

 

Lenore swallowed in the face of her mother's glare. Despite being a centimeter shorter than Lenore, her mother was still quite capable of being frightening.

 

With a deep breath, Lenore raised the Staff of One.

 

“JUST the Eye,” Nico added, looking into those blue eyes that were definitely Karolina's. “I don't want the hand of a ninety-year-old.”

 

Lenore looked at the Eye, held in her mama's upturned hand, then she looked back at Nico's face. “Maybe you should, you know, levitate it? Just in case?”

 

The sigh that Nico released _might_ have been a bit overly dramatic. “Fine,” she said, lightly tossing the Eye up and catching it in a purple glow that held it in place in midair. “If it'll make you feel better.”

 

Lenore didn't glance away from Nico's gaze, her expression deadly serious as she looked at her mama. “If I fuck up your hand, Mom'll be pissed,” she said. “And I'd prefer to avoid that.”

 

“Smart girl,” Nico said, letting a little smile briefly cross her lips before her expression became solemn once more.

 

Lenore raised the Staff and focused on the Eye. She felt power flow in the Staff of One, eager to be used but feeling almost impatient in that eagerness.

 

“ _Return the Eye of Agamotto and its contents to their previous place in the timestream,”_ Lenore spoke carefully, feeling the fine hairs on the back of her neck rise as magic flowed from her into the Staff and back again, circulating like the blood in her arteries.

 

Green light blossomed from the entire length of the Staff as well as Lenore's body as she felt the magic surge... only to stop abruptly, as if pressing against a wall.

 

She hissed as she felt pain begin to build in her head as her will pushed against the rather sizable obstacle of the timestream. Yes, time wanted the Eye to return to where it “belonged” in the timestream, but there was still a significant stumbling block in the form of inertia, this time temporal, to overcome before that could happen.

 

Lenore needed more power, and she knew how to access it.

 

Holding her baby, still and lifeless, had shattered her emotionally. She was sure that she'd be reliving that bleak, hopeless moment in her nightmares for years to come, so it was nauseatingly easy to pull that memory out and hold onto it. The cold skin. The limp limbs. The ashen coloration. The lack of Ligeia's laugh, her cry, her burbling.

 

These were the things that Lenore made herself remember, made herself relive, because to her family, pain was power, and her family didn't run from things that were painful.

 

They faced them.

 

Lenore's body shook as tears ran down her cheeks again, and she fought back sobs at knowing how she had truly lost her daughter, at how evil had succeeded in sacrificing millions of innocents including her baby and her sisters' children, and only a truly wild idea had undone the tragedies.

 

As Lenore relived that loss, those moments of utter despair and heartbreak, her power grew. Inside Lenore, inside the Staff, magic crested, pressing against the stubborn nature of reality until reality finally yielded. The bright green glow surrounding the Eye flared in intensity, and Lenore felt time flow around the small artifact, restoring what had been. She held the effect for several seconds, nearly half a minute, until what she felt as tactile feedback from the spell suddenly felt _right_.

 

She released the effect, pulling the Staff back. She and Nico looked at each other briefly, then a flick on Nico's right fingers had the Eye floating back into her hand.

 

Nico closed her eyes and reached out to the Eye as the golden artifact settled into her open hand. Smiling, she opened her eyes once more and gazed at Lenore. “Nice job,” Nico said proudly.

 

“Thanks,” Lenore replied, a bit numbly. She wiped at her cheeks with her free hand, then looked over at the protective shield enclosing the Crater workers and her daughter and nieces.

 

Three of Nico's shadow beasts stood sentinel over the incapacitated cultists, lying on the ground and groaning painfully. As Lenore's eyes roamed across the followers of Jacob, a shiny bit of metal caught her eye, on the ground next to one of the cultists.

 

A pistol. That had been pointed at her baby.

 

Lenore's anger flared in her chest. She felt a deep swell of magic flow from the Staff of One up her left arm, eager and hungry, and she was in no mood to hold back or have mercy. Her left arm rose up, and as the Staff's headpiece rose, crackling with white electricity, the injured cultists floated up from the ground to match the motion, rotating so that they were positioned upright as if standing. A few of them opened their eyes and tried to speak or gesture, but it was too late.

 

“ _BURN THOSE WHO WOULD MURDER CHILDREN!”_ Lenore shouted, and with a flash of white and green, the Staff eagerly complied.

 

The screams and thrashing only lasted a few seconds as the cultists were consumed from the inside out, their bodies charring and blackening until bright green flames emerged, licking angrily at the air. The mystic fire continued to burn until all that was left were ashes piled on the floor, then the flames vanished.

 

Nico watched, outwardly dispassionate, inwardly rejoicing, even as she felt sick to her stomach at the part of her that reveled in such punishment. The shine of the protective bubbles around the Crater workers and the children shielded them from witnessing the gruesome deaths, and for that, Nico was glad.

 

She turned to look at Lenore, who turned around and met her mother's troubled gaze. Lenore was fighting tears of anger and sadness both, and the war of emotions on her daughter's face was evident to Nico.

 

Wordlessly, Nico opened her arms in her daughter's direction, signaling once with her right hand for Lenore to move closer.

 

The young black-haired witch practically ran to her mother, throwing herself into the arms that had held her and comforted her growing up, and even though Lenore was as big as her mama now, she knew that there would always be room for her in Nico's and Karolina's arms.

 

It was strange, Nico thought as she held her daughter, to feel the presence of the Staff a hair's-breadth away from her but not feeling that same resonance in her soul any more. She looked over to the Staff and allowed herself a moment of melancholy at letting go what had been a part of her for the last thirty years.

 

“Never forget, _you're_ the master of _it_ ,” she whispered to Lenore. “Not the other way around. You're stronger than it, because true strength has nothing to do with power.”

 

“I know,” Lenore said, nodding against Nico's shoulder. “I've listened to you. Even when you thought I wasn't.”

 

“You're going to be a great Sorcerer Supreme one day,” Nico said proudly.

 

Lenore smiled against the soft fabric of Nico's shirt. “You mean you're not abdicating for me right now?” she asked teasingly.

 

Nico pulled back enough to take in Lenore's bright blue eyes and happy smile in a face that was otherwise all Nico. “You don't have be a little shit,” she told her daughter, who just laughed.

 

“Yeah, I kind of do, because I inherited it from my parents,” the younger woman replied. “My incredible, amazing parents.”

 

Pink light illuminated the room next door, visible on the floor first before it spread to fill the entire adjacent room before Karolina drifted through the open doorway.

 

“Oh, shit,” Lenore swore as she saw a large, dark patch of blood on Karolina's shirt and more smeared blood on her pajama pants.

 

Nico immediately released Lenore and spun around, instinctively reaching for the Staff of One with her left hand as her right hand shaped to cast a protective enchantment, then mentally kicking herself for the habit she was going to have to break.

 

“It's not mine,” Karolina said grimly as her bare feet touched the floor and her pink light faded out. “It's his.”

 

She lifted up Jacob's head, held by its blonde hair in her left hand. Blood still dripped from the ragged edges of his throat where it had been torn away, spattering onto the laminate floor.

 

For once, Lenore and Nico were both speechless.

 

“He killed them, Nico,” Karolina said, her voice wobbling as she spoke, and Nico could see her wife on the edge of a very long fall into very dark emotions. “I mean, he _would_ have killed them. No, he DID kill them. I couldn't let him do it again, not _ever_. I—”

 

Karolina's words were cut off by Nico hugging her tightly, standing on her tip toes to try to get their heads at roughly the same level. Karolina still had to lean forward slightly, but she didn't care, because it was Nico, holding her and whispering that she did the right thing, that she still loved Karolina and that their daughters and grandchildren would always love her, and that if Karolina hadn't have done what she did, millions and billions of lives would have been consumed in a catastrophic war.

 

Blood was dripping down the back of Nico's shirt as Karolina's arms clung to her wife, the sticky fluid warm and wet against Nico's back, but she didn't care, because this was Karolina clinging to her just as tightly as Nico clung to the blonde. This was her wife, her best friend, her home. This was the light to her darkness, and if sometimes that light grew a bit dark and sometimes that darkness briefly lightened, that was okay, because it was the two of them touching, sharing, each offering part of herself to the other, joining together to make a picture with infinitely more shades than just black and white.

 

“We almost lost the babies, Nico,” Karolina whispered into her wife's ear, her strong body still trembling in Nico's arms. “We _did_ lose them.”

 

“Not anymore,” Nico replied, taking a quick look to her side; Lenore was quietly examining the Staff of One, holding it up in front of her as she peered closely at the headpiece, now silent and empty once more. Nico let a soft smile sweep across her lips. “It never happened, except for the three of us.”

 

Now Nico looked over at the dim figures still shielded inside the opaque spheres of protection, blissfully unaware of what had once happened. They were alive, the kids and their caregivers, and she planned on saving as many of the kind people at Crater as possible.

 

But right now her immediate priority was her wife.

 

“Nico...” Karolina said, hesitantly. “Nico, I...”

 

Nico stayed attentive, unsure what Karolina was thinking. Goddess knew, it could have been damn near anything, after what they had just been through.

 

Karolina drew in a shaky breath, close enough to Nico's ear for the sound to be bracing. “Seeing them... seeing their bodies, Nico... I-I'm going to have nightmares, about that, I mean.”

 

“I know, Kar. I know.”

 

“I don't— I don't want to remember that, Nico.”

 

“Kar...”

 

“Nico, I want you to make me forget that, please.”

 

Nico stopped, her entire upper body going rigid as she pulled back but didn't let go of Karolina. Mahogany eyes locked with sapphire.

 

“No,” Nico said flatly.

 

“Nico...”

 

“NO, Karolina,” Nico said, emphasizing the denial to indicate how serious she was.

 

Karolina's eyes blinked several times as hurt appeared in them.

 

Nico fought the urge to sigh, but she wasn't backing down from this. “I'm not fucking with your mind. End of story.”

 

“But I'm asking you to—”

 

Nico's head shot forward; their lips bumped together forcefully enough that there was a brief sting of pain before the warmth of the kiss swallowed it. Karolina immediately responded to Nico's lips and tongue, eagerly matching her lover's intensity and surpassing it. A wet thump sounded behind Nico as Karolina dropped her brother's severed head to clutch Nico tighter.

 

After several seconds Nico gently pulled back just a hair, leaving a heavily-breathing Karolina leaning forward, searching for her wife's lips again, her mouth still open slightly.

 

“I love you with all I am,” Nico said softly, cheating a bit by using magic to lift her feet a few centimeters off the ground, so the tip of her nose could gently press against Karolina's. “I _respect_ you with all I am. And _that_ is exactly why I'm not going to use magic to mess with your mind or change your memories.”

 

Karolina's lips opened to argue, but a quick “Shh” from Nico stilled any words from the blonde.

 

“Your mind,” Nico continued, her voice as gentle and loving as ever, “your soul, Karolina, those are so, so important to me. They're _you_ , and you are—”

 

Nico swallowed, taking a charged few seconds to bring her emotions back under control. “You're... _sacred_ to me, Kar, and I don't use that word lightly. And I can't trust myself or allow myself to ever—EVER—violate your mind. Not even if you ask me to do it.”

 

The tips of Nico's fingers brushed against Karolina's left cheek, then slid into the blonde's long, loose hair.

 

“ _Please_ understand,” Nico spoke, her voice softly pleading. “Please understand why I can't do that to you.”

 

Karolina's eyes closed tightly, squeezing tears out on both sides. She leaned into Nico further, pressing her face into the witch's shoulder. “I'm sorry,” she spoke, voice muffled by Nico's shirt. “I'm sorry for asking you to do that. I shouldn't have put you in that position.”

 

“You don't need to be sorry,” Nico replied, hugging Karolina a bit more tightly. “We'll get through this, baby. We will. We're both going to have some nightmares, but you know what?”

 

Karolina sniffled, then lifted her face so that she was looking over Nico's shoulder, with just her mouth and chin still pressed against her wife's shirt. “What?” she mumbled wetly.

 

Nico grinned, glad Karolina couldn't see her tickled expression. “I promise I'll be the same enormous asshole that I always am,” she said.

 

Karolina laughed through her tears, then she lightly smacked Nico on the back of her shoulder. “That's not funny.”

 

“No, I take being an asshole very seriously.”

 

“Jerk,” Karolina said, but there was no venom or bitterness in her voice now, only softness, as she smiled despite the atmosphere. “You always know when to make me laugh,” she said, tenderly.

 

“Yeah, well, that's because I love you.”

 

“I love you too. Even when you _are_ an enormous asshole.”

 

“Marry the hot goth girl, you get the pissy side too. Package deal.”

 

Now the breath that Karolina took in, long and slow before releasing it in a sigh, was more relaxed than anxious. “I'll take that deal,” she said softly. “Thank you for looking out for me.”

 

Nico smiled again. “It's what I do. Just like you do for me.”

 

Karolina suddenly stiffened. “Shit! There are still cultists running around with guns, and I've been in here feeling sorry for myself! We—”

 

“Whoa,” Nico said, her voice quiet but firm. “I'm already on that. All of them should be on the ground in various states of injury at this point. Except for the ones in here. Nor took care of them.”

 

“Good,” Karolina replied smoothly. “Now there's the matter of my brother's body.” She sighed and glanced away. “We should probably call the police.”

 

“ _Should_ we?”

 

Karolina looked back at Nico, who appeared entirely indifferent at the fact Karolina had just killed her brother.

 

“Nico, the Soko—”

 

Nico's fingertips lightly pressing against Karolina's lips stopped the blonde's words; the gentleness of the intimate touch took away any bite from Nico's look of annoyance.

 

“So help me, Karolina, if you say 'Sokovia Accords,' I'll turn everything in your underwear drawer into granny panties.”

 

“Then you'd be fucking a woman who wears granny panties.”

 

“Damn right.”

 

“What does that say about _you_?”

 

“That granny panties come off like every other piece of underwear?”

 

Karolina had to fight off laughter as she said, “We're talking about sex in front of our grandkids.”

 

“They're still in the protection bubbles. They can't hear us.”

 

“And Lenore.”

 

“Pretty sure she knows how sex works. She has a kid.”

 

“Still.”

 

“Okay. We can talk about sex later.”

 

“Excellent. So, as I was saying, we're Avengers.”

 

“Reserve.”

 

“Still Avengers. You don't think me killing a supervillain that happens to be my brother warrants disclosure to Oversight?”

 

“You killed him on Gibborim property. That means church property. That means church business. 'Religious freedom' and all that shit.”

 

“I don't think murder falls under 'religious freedom,' Nico.”

 

Nico crossed her arms in front of her chest and frowned. “Kar, I don't think us disclosing that we've been secretly keeping Jacob, who tried to destroy Los Angeles the _last_ time he was free, in stasis beneath Crater is going to go over well.”

 

Karolina stuck her lower lip out slightly and blew out a breath, sending it upward and tossing a dangling lock of her blonde hair to the side. “...You might have a point.”

 

Nico stepped forward, her right arm dropping down to gently hold Karolina's left forearm. “The world thinks he's dead, babe. So let him be dead.”

 

Karolina started to reply, but the pained way Nico's eyes moved to look at Lenore, still examining the Staff of One, made her pause and change the subject.

 

“Oh, Nico,” Karolina said softly, reading her wife's body language all too easily. “She was ready, sweetheart. She's _been_ ready. You didn't force anything on her.”

 

Nico nodded. Her eyes burned slightly, which she steadfastly ignored. “It's... a burden, in a way.”

 

“It is.”

 

“And I hate knowing that one day she'll have to confront that, to fight the Staff for control.”

 

“She might not _have_ to fight the Staff, Nico. Things... changed after your battle with the Staff. After your _years_ with the Staff. You used it for love, to create life, to protect others. You taught it things it had never known before. We don't know what to expect from it now.”

 

“Exactly. And when in our lives has not knowing what to expect _ever_ been a good thing?”

 

Now Karolina's smile beamed. “When one scared girl kissed another scared girl the night they had to fight for their lives.”

 

Nico lifted her head to look into Karolina's eyes again. “That was cheating,” she said flatly.

 

“I get to cheat. I'm cute.”

 

Nico sighed. “Yes, you are, and yes, you do. I swear, it's a good thing I love you.”

 

“The _best_ thing.”

 

Nico's head eased forward, placing a soft, chaste kiss on Karolina's lips, being careful to not open her mouth or do anything to take away from the simple action. She held it for three seconds, then pulled back slightly and opened her eyes, meeting Karolina's curious stare.

 

“What was that for?” asked the blonde. “Not complaining, but...”

 

“For being willing to do whatever it took to protect our family. I'm sorry you had to do it.”

 

“I'm not.”

 

“...You're not the one with blood running down the back of her top, which is now sticky, cooling and disgusting.”

 

Karolina grinned. “You'll wash.”

 

Nico settled back onto the floor. She looked coyly up at her wife and let a teasing smile cross her face. “Will you wash my back?” she asked hopefully.

 

Karolina laughed once, then she wrapped her arms around her wife and picked Nico up despite the gore on the back of Nico's dress, pressing their noses together as they looked into each other's eyes.

 

“I'll wash your front, too,” Karolina replied quietly, grinning as she set Nico's feet back on the ground.

 

High-pitched squeals of delight seized their attention; they turned to see the protective shields gone and Lenore standing among the nursery workers, taking her daughter Ligeia into her arms. The Staff of One was nowhere to be seen as Lenore's nieces Lydia and Coraline had their arms wrapped around their aunt's legs, hugging her tightly, while Pandora's daughter Sabrina, just over a year old, was awkwardly clutching to Lenore's legs, trying to imitate her older cousins. Vanessa, one of the nursery workers in her early twenties, was holding baby Blair, Pandora's other daughter, as she and Lucero, a nursery worker in her mid-thirties, traded grateful hugs with Lenore.

 

“Did she dismiss your shield?” a surprised Karolina asked Nico quietly as they both took in the adorable sight.

 

“I let it drop when I felt her dispel her own shield,” Nico replied, just as softly. “I'm not standing between her hugging her baby. Not after what we've all just been through.” Her brown eyes suddenly widened. “Oh! Need to check on something.”

 

A gesture and flash of purple light, and the two of them were standing outside in the center of Crater's largest open courtyard, under the bright sun once more.

 

With a muttered string of profanity at how bright it was, Nico shaded her eyes and looked up at the mountain looming over Crater. She smiled when the Watcher was nowhere to be seen.

 

“Mission accomplished, I guess,” Karolina said, likewise scanning the mountain range for any sign of the cosmic entity. She didn't have to shade her eyes, but she was too polite to rub it in.

 

“Looks like it,” replied Nico. “Thank goddess. That scared the shit out of me.”

 

“Me too,” added Karolina with a nod, then she looked down at Nico and smiled widely. “You beat the Devil today, Nico,” she said proudly. “Not many people can say that.”

 

“Well, you saved millions of lives and probably prevented a war by taking care of your psycho brother,” replied Nico, not bothering to act too cool to smile as she looked up at the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. “So I'm awfully proud of you too.”

 

“Him killing Mom was...” Karolina began, her voice trailing off as painful memories drifted to the front of her thoughts. “It was terrible,” she finally finished. “But he was willing to kill _children_ , Nico. _Babies_. How could I let someone that evil, that heartless, live, even if he _was_ my brother?”

 

“You couldn't,” Nico replied, reaching up to place her right hand behind Karolina's head and gently guide the taller woman's head down to rest on Nico's (much shorter) shoulder, only doable because Nico was standing on her tip-toes. “And by doing what you did, by ending him the way you did, you probably saved Earth and Majesdane both. What I did today can't compare with that.”

 

Karolina's soft sigh was entirely adorable to Nico. “I really don't like the end-of-the-world stuff,” said the blonde, her breath warm against Nico's bare neck. “It makes me nervous.”

 

“You're still good at it... Empress.”

 

“Oh, God, don't call me that,” said Karolina, jerking her head up to look Nico directly in the eyes.

 

“Hey, it's not my fault Majesdane never _officially_ abolished the monarchy after they exiled Jonah's family.”

 

“They don't recognize the title, so it doesn't count.”

 

“Uh, the _world government_ of Majesdane doesn't _officially_ recognize the title. The people we saw on Majesdane selling little Empress Karolina the First dolls argue otherwise.”

 

Karolina audibly groaned.

 

Nico didn't bother to hide her grin. “They were adorable, too. Easily one of the highlights of our last trip.”

 

Karolina's face suddenly turned serious as a thought occurred to her. “You better not have bought one of those dolls, Nico Dean,” she said quickly.

 

“Why not? It'd fit perfectly in your Solstice Stocking.”

 

“Because it would encourage them! It would... Oooohhh! I'm _not_ an Empress!”

 

“Technically, you are. Sorry, babe.”

 

Karolina eyes narrowed as they locked squarely onto Nico's. “Tell me you didn't buy one of those dolls.”

 

Nico lifted her hands up agreeably. “I didn't buy one of those dolls,” she answered, truthfully.

 

(She had asked Persephone to buy one for her instead, and hide it.)

 

“Anyway, all that title does is remind them that I'm Jonah's daughter, the half-alien child of the monster who was so horrible that they banished him and his entire family into space forever.”

 

“Karolina,” Nico said slowly, taking her wife's hand, despite the blood. “How can they _not_ love you? I hated everybody when I was a teenager, and even _I_ loved you.”

 

The look on Karolina's face was more weary than irritated. “I don't want to be Empress of Majesdane, or really _anything_ of Majesdane. I want to be the wife of Nico Dean.” She paused, then smiled. “I want to be our kids' Mom, our grandkids' Nini.”

 

“Not sure those pay well,” Nico replied. “Empress probably pays better.”

 

Now the sparkle that Nico loved so, so much was back in Karolina's eyes. “I don't care about money,” said the blonde. “I have you, and our kids are happy and loved. What else really matters?”

 

Nico felt her heart warm in her chest, as it always did when her wife cut through the details and nonsense that tended to accumulate in modern life. “You're a smart Empress, Karolina Dean,” the petite witch said.

 

“Save me,” Karolina muttered, trying not to laugh.


	11. Run with Me

_The rats are on parade, another mad charade_

_What you gonna do?_

_The hounds are on the chase, everything's erased_

_What you gonna do?_

_I need some room to breathe, you can stay asleep_

_If you wanted to_

_They say that nothing's free, you can run with me_

_If you wanted to_

_Yeah, you can run with me_

_If you wanted to_

_Before the time runs out_

_There's somewhere to run_

_Wake up_

_Run for your life with me_

_Wake up_

_Run for your life with me_

 

 

\--Foo Fighters, “Run”

 

 

—O—

—O—

 

**SIX YEARS LATER**

 

 

“NiNi! NiNi!”

 

“ _Obaa-chan! Obaa-chan!”_

 

“NINI!”

 

“ _OBAA-CHAN!”_

 

Karolina and Nico looked at each other over the small crowd of children of various ages surrounding them, tugging on Nico's long black skirt and Karolina's baby blue romper, little arms raised and waving, pushing and struggling for the best position closest to their grandparents as they stood outside beneath the desert sun. The look the two partners of the last thirty-four years shared was one of happy resignation, as they were keeping their granddaughters at the Hostel today.

 

“Are we getting too old for this?” Karolina, hair still a golden blonde despite the intermittent silver strands that now appeared in her wavy tresses. Her face had a few lines developing around the corners of her eyes and across her forehead, but she wore them as proudly as battle scars.

 

Nico looked back at Karolina over the bobbing and jumping heads of black, cinnamon, blonde and auburn hair surrounding them. Her face had only a light foundation on it this morning, paired with a pop of soft orange around her eyes and an umber so dark that it was nearly black on her lips. The years with Karolina and their family had removed Nico's need to wall herself off from the rest of the world, so some days her makeup was surprisingly minimal, especially compared to when she and Karolina were teenagers. But Nico still loved the boldness and artistry that came with cosmetics, and by this point in her life, she was pretty damn good with them. She loved having another dimension with which to express herself and her feelings, and she had made sure to pass on her skills and knowledge to her and Karolina's daughters when they were young. Now she had a new generation to share her skills with, and that had made Nico step up her makeup game once more.

 

Karolina often described Nico's ever-changing look as a field of wildflowers that bloomed in a different color every day, always fresh and always beautiful. Nico usually rolled her eyes at that comment, but it made her heart swell with happiness to know that Karolina still appreciated the effort and skill that went into her makeup as well as the end result.

 

Admittedly, Nico's overall style _had_ gotten slightly more understated as she and Karolina transitioned into their fifties. Menopause, aches and pains, changing bodies and a healthy dose of not giving a fuck what most other people thought demanded a few sartorial changes: the high boots had been retired, passed down to Lenore (the only one who could wear Nico's size) several years ago, along with some of the more revealing outfits.

 

—O—

 

“ _You realize that in ten years Ligeia's going to want to wear these, right?” Lenore had asked her mama, examining one mostly-see-through top that Nico had loved but was passing on to her middle daughter._

 

_Nico had sighed and given Lenore an exasperated look. “Why would you tell me that?” she asked wearily._

 

_Lenore smirked at her, and the expression was totally Nico twenty-five years ago, just with deep blue eyes. “Because I have to deal with worrying about that, and I wanted some company in dreading the dating years.”_

 

“ _You're a bitch sometimes,” Nico replied, her smile indicating that she really wasn't angry at her daughter._

 

“ _Learned from the best,” Lenore smugly replied, placing the top on a hanger before adding it to her closet._

 

—O—

 

“Is Gert letting the new babies outside yet?” Nico asked her wife, poking her lightly in the side with her elbow.

 

Karolina smiled widely. “Oh my god, they are SO. CUTE. You want to go see them?”

 

“Sure,” Nico replied. “Hey, rats! We're going right over there to check on the little dinos.” As cheers rang out around them, she pointed across the open scrubland to the lower-elevation arroyo where Gert and Chase's small but growing family of dinosaurs liked to play. “You think you can keep from burning the desert down while we're over there?”

 

“YES!” was audible as several voices joined in to pledge obedience.

 

“I'll watch them, Aunt Nico,” said Jessi. The tall girl with dark brown hair that was nearly black was the daughter of Molly and her wife Klara; Jessi was closer in age to Nico's and Karolina's grandkids than to the rest of her generation of Runaways, as Molly and Klara were not only younger than the rest of the original Runaways, they had been much later to have children. (Mostly because Klara had struggled with her sexuality for several years, due to her repressive and abusive childhood.) As such, Jessi was a young sixteen, ten years younger than Gert's and Chase's younger daughter Marie, the next youngest of the second generation of Runaways.

 

Karolina illuminated into pink and yellow light and swept Nico into her arms as they flew the short distance to view the new dinosaurs. Only moments later, once Nico and Karolina were out of earshot, a thick stream of cold water struck the half-dozen children gathered close together, sparking loud shrieks and squeals as the half-dozen children ranging in age from Lydia's nine years to two-year-old Edgar, the younger child of Lenore and Jimmy, starting running into each other in their haste to escape the cold spray of water.

 

Jessi had hidden a waterthrower of her uncle Chase's design, built like a flamethrower with two tanks of water mounted on a backpack and designed to assist with firefighting, behind a pile of rocks, and once her aunts had flown off, she had quickly set to work spraying her cousins, who appeared to be enjoying the relief from the desert heat more than actually disliking it, judging from the laughter and the smiles on the faces of her cousins.

 

Lydia and her sister Coraline bloomed into copper-red and golden light respectively, shooting off the ground and out of the spray of the large water cannon. The two girls flew in opposite directions as Jessi tried to track Coraline, mainly because Lydia was smart enough to fly over Gert's large patch of prickly pear cacti growing adjacent to the Hostel, and no one was going to risk pissing off Gert.

 

(Gert had won a grant and concession from the Bureau Of Land Management to allow her to conduct research and cultivate the cacti for the goal of more efficiently removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. That, combined with the hundred-year-lease Nico had managed to secure on four hundred acres around and including the Hostel, served to give the Runaways' large family long-term security when it came to their unusual home.

 

The fact that Gert named her most promising strain of prickly pair cactus, one four times more efficient at processing carbon dioxide than typical cacti, _Opuntia deanoru_ had been an utter delight to Karolina.)

 

The swooping Lydia laughed as red runes glowed to life around her hands, a richer scarlet than her Majesdanian glow, as her sorcery activated. The spray of water that Jessi was directing at Coraline suddenly bucked like a fire hose as it began to glow a matching shade of scarlet.

 

Coraline abruptly streaked in, just centimeters off the ground, and grabbed Jessi from behind, using her budding super strength to lift the older girl off the ground and hold her aloft as her arms waved and legs kicked.

 

Jessi was nearly as strong as her mom Molly, but she covered large distances by jumping, not flying, so she had no way to dodge if she wasn't touching the ground. As such, the thick stream of cold water that Lydia was directing back at Jessi hit the older girl squarely in the chest and face, drenching her as she shrieked playfully.

 

“Oh my GODDESS, Lyd!” a dripping Coraline shouted from beneath her cousin. The thick stream had been more than enough to soak not only Jessi but poor Coraline, too, soaking her shorts and one of her favorite shirts.

 

Lydia rolled onto her back, still hovering several meters off the ground, laughing wildly until a glowing stream of thick, gritty water mixed with desert earth slammed into her.

 

“CORI!” the now-sodden Lydia yelled, her body position tilting so that she was upright and glaring down at her younger sister, the telltale rose pink of Coraline's magic still shining around the girl's hands.

 

“Uh oh,” said Sabrina, seven years old. She was essentially the third generation of Karolina, with the blonde hair and blue eyes her mother Pandora and grandmother Karolina shared. Sabrina was all too aware of the hot tempers her older cousins possessed. She turned to her cousin Ligeia and said, “Gee-Gee, go get the Nanas. Quick.”

 

With a quick nod, the petite, jet-haired Ligeia streaked away, leaving an afterimage of blue-green as she shot off in the direction of their grandmothers. Ligeia strongly took after her mother Lenore, with the diminutive frame, dark hair and quiet nature that had also marked her _obaa_ Nico as well.

 

No sooner had Ligeia taken off than the _smack_ of Coraline's body impacting her sister's in midair rang out, with the two siblings immediately escalating to shoving and short punches as they wobbled slowly, drifting away from the Hostel as they hovered just above the ground.

 

“Stay back,” Sabrina said, rounding up her younger sisters Blair, now five, and Elvira, who had just turned four, along with their cousin Edgar, Ligeia's little brother. “They're a lot stronger than we are,” she told her siblings as she put herself between them and their older cousins. As a precaution, Sabrina conjured a barrier shield, placing it between them and the tussling siblings; her sorcery was more dependable than her mother Pandora's had been at her young age, but Sabrina was still hoping that the strength of her shield wasn't going to be tested today, because with America Chavez as one of their grandmothers, Coraline and Lydia were _strong_.

 

The first serious punch landed in the scrap was Cori's left fist connecting with Lydia's chest, driving the older girl downward onto the desert ground hard enough to crack the dry earth and send Lydia's body bouncing upward.

 

Lydia used her momentum to flash upward, grabbing her little sister by the legs and spinning her at super speed before letting her go, sending her hurtling upward for a little over a second before bright pink light, not the soft rose of Coraline's magic but a rather bold pink, appeared around the shaken Coraline, halting her instantly but not doing anything to ease her disorientation at the sudden acceleration and deceleration.

 

At the same time, a pink glow with soft flickers of purple wrapped Lydia up, holding her rigidly in place. The girl twisted and strained, but she couldn't break out of the tingling energy field wrapped tightly around her.

 

“HEY!” rang out a voice, sharp and commanding.

 

At the sound of their _obaa's_ serious voice, Coraline and Lydia both stopped wriggling. Each girl's head turned to see their grandmothers Nico and Karolina on the ground below and between them, pink runes and a pink glow around Nico's hands as she held Cori in a magic field and pink light streaming from Karolina's left hand as she immobilized Lydia.

 

(The changing of Nico's magic from violet to pink had begun almost immediately after handing the Staff of One over to Lenore. It had been a gradual shift, first to a lighter purple later that evening, then to a bright magenta by the time they went to bed, then to a soft vermilion the next morning before finally stopping at a rich pink identical to the hue of Karolina's light by bedtime. Nico and Karolina hadn't been surprised—both of them had already seen the true color of Nico's personal magic over thirty years ago during her duel with the Staff of One—but the change had been striking to the rest of their extended family when Nico demonstrated the difference the next day.

 

“That's so sweet!” Molly had shouted. “You two match!”

 

“Very cool,” Chase had agreed.

 

“I think it shows the real source of your power, your true strength, now that you're no longer using the Staff,” Alex had observed; he and Livvie had stopped by to drop off some electronic components for Chase.

 

“You are what you eat,” Gert had smirked, getting a light swat from Nico.)

 

“One day you'll be strong enough to break my fields, firefly,” Karolina said firmly as Lydia again tried to toss and struggle against her grandmother's pink light. “But you're not strong enough yet.”

 

“What the hell is going on here?” Nico snapped, her voice louder and harsher than her wife's as she looked at the soaked, dirty kids.

 

“I started it,” Jessi said, wringing water out of her shirt and looking overly contrite. “I was spraying them with the waterthrower.”

 

“Did you make Lydia and Cori start hitting each other?” Nico asked, turning her intense gaze to the young woman.

 

“... Well, no, but—”

 

“Then it's not your fault, Jess, but that's sweet of you to try and take the blame.” Nico softened her gaze as she looked at the beautiful young woman, so much like Molly at that age, as she toed her shoes into the wet ground.

 

Nico returned her attention to her two oldest grandkids as she pulled Coraline down to the ground, positioning her beside her sister as the two of them hovered, wrapped in matching pink light, directly in front of her and Karolina.

 

Karolina frowned, taking her time as she met each of the sisters' eyes, holding each one's gaze long enough to wordlessly convey her disappointment with each girl.

 

“You two have super strength,” Karolina said, keeping her voice calm and steady. “Much more than your cousins, who are all younger than you as well. When you start roughhousing, you could really hurt one of them!”

 

As Karolina paused, Nico simply leveled her intense stare at the two girls held just off the ground, both of whom were visibly starting to wilt under the disapproval. Nico's angry gaze was terrifying enough without any accompanying words; on several occasions, Karolina had seen grown men urinate on themselves when caught in her wife's smoldering glare.

 

“Can you two control yourselves at this point?” Nico finally asked, her voice flat and charged as she spoke.

 

“Yes, ma'am,” Coraline replied meekly, eyes firmly fixed on the ground just below her.

 

“Yes, _obaa-san_ ,” added Lydia, hazel eyes flicking up to meet Nico's stern gaze for a moment before retreating to the safety of staring at the desert earth like her sister.

 

Nico looked at Karolina, whose expression looked mildly hurt before shifting into a look of curiosity, wordlessly conveying to her wife that she felt a bit bad for the girls but was unsure if they needed to be released yet or not.

 

Nico shrugged, then stopped her suspension spell; Karolina followed her wife's lead, releasing Lydia as Nico did Cori.

 

The two girls settled their weight back onto their feet fairly easily, both sporting matching looks of guilt as they uneasily shifted back and forth. Coraline's hair was still slightly blonde, but it was clearly darkening, closer to Lydia's reddish-brown every week.

 

“Sorry,” Lydia said, eyes lifting long enough to flit over to her cousins. Sabrina, the next oldest in their generation, looked the most upset, arms crossed and blue eyes glaring. Blair, blue-green eyes and curly red hair like her mother Jhileesa, was standing partly behind her big sister, with their little sister, dark-haired Elvira, securely behind her two big sisters. Lenore's daughter Ligeia had inherited her mother's and grandmother's Resting Bitch Face along with their petite size, and even at age six, her facial expression game was already strong. She returned Lydia's hesitant gaze with an angry stare. Her little hands were ready at her sides, fingers in the right position to cast her own barrier spell to protect her and her little brother Edgar, sandy-haired like his father, who was now clinging to the back of his big sister's shirt.

 

Sensing that everyone had now shifted to glare at her and Lydia, Coraline squirmed momentarily before mumbling, “Sorry,” toward the ground.

 

“What was that?” Karolina asked, raising her voice. “I couldn't hear you.”

 

“SORRY,” Coraline repeated, louder, eyes flicking up to look at her NiNi then quickly looking away rather than challenge the woman she secretly respected more than anyone, even her moms.

 

“That's better,” said Karolina, and once more her smile softened into its usual kind expression. “Nobody got hurt this time, girls. You got lucky. Next time, remember that you can deal with each other without getting mad.”

 

“Tell that to _Madre_ ,” Lydia mumbled, getting a surprised laugh from her sister beside her. Their mother Gloriana had an impressive temper, though she had excellent self-control to go with it. The two girls looked at each other and shared a knowing smile for a brief moment.

 

“Your _madre_ doesn't deal with your mom that way, does she?” asked Nico carefully, and there was more than a hint of promised menace in that question.

 

“No,” both girls quickly replied in unison.

 

“That's the most patient we ever see _Madre_ ,” Cori added. “When she and Mom disagree.”

 

“Voices get raised,” Lydia interjected. “Definitely. And there's some swearing.”

 

(“Shocker,” Karolina whispered to Nico.)

 

“But _Madre_ would never so much as point a finger at Mom when she was angry. And Mom's the same way. They have too much respect for each other.”

 

“And for you,” Karolina said. “They know that the way they deal with each other is the example that's set for the two of you with your future girlfriends. Or boyfriends. Or nonbinaryfriends. We won't judge.”

 

“Relationships are gross,” Lydia muttered, as Cori made a soft gagging noise in agreement with her sister. “Can we spray Jessi now?”

 

Karolina sighed, then glanced over at her wife. “If only they'd stay that way forever,” she whispered, getting a knowing smile from Nico.

 

“Hormones won't kick in for a while, at least,” agreed Nico. “Another year or two of peace for Pers and Glory.”

 

Karolina watched as Coraline and Lydia began to squabble over who got to use the waterthrower next. “Well,” she said as the two sisters began to raise their voices but at least kept their hands off each other, “I guess peace is relative, right?”

 

—O—

 

The hubbub was at a steady rumble as Karolina and Nico made their way down the aisle of seats in the school auditorium. The Hidden Grove Elementary School Christmas Play wasn't scheduled to start for another ten minutes, which Nico interpreted as them being at least nine minutes early. Karolina disagreed; she had asked that they arrive early to get seats close to the front, and Nico had acquiesced with only minor grumbling.

 

(The fact that Karolina had bribed her with sex helped.)

 

“These programs are still pains in the ass,” Nico whispered to her wife as they took their seats four rows back from the front. “I still say we should take a page from Gert and file a complaint with the school board about Christmas plays imposing specific religious views on the kids and their families.”

 

Karolina turned to look at Nico, her very outfit refuting Nico's argument. She was wearing a satiny red dress, the hem trimmed with white fluff, with red-and-white horizontal stripes in a candy cane pattern, finished with shiny black flats for shoes. Her internal energy kept Karolina from getting cold, but she still had brought a white winter coat so as not to appear too out of place.

 

“Don't be a party pooper,” Karolina said quietly, her expression nonplussed. Despite being fifty-two years old, she was still stunning, easily able to pass for early to mid-thirties, particularly when she dressed up like tonight. “We're not here for Christmas. We're here for Brina and Blair, Miss Grump,” she continued. “So you better put a smile on your face for those little angels.”

 

“It's Mrs. Grump,” Nico replied, her voice low as she shifted in her padded auditorium seat. She was wearing a loose-knit long-sleeved black sweater, cut short enough to show a strip of red fabric from her thin camisole beneath the sweater, a long black stretchy pencil skirt, shiny black leather boots and a silver pentacle necklace that had been a gift from Karolina over twenty years ago. She leaned against Karolina's shoulder as they settled into their seats.

 

“Sorry we're late,” said Pandora as she, her wife Jhil and their husband Isaac all moved in, taking seats next to Karolina. Their two oldest children, Sabrina and Blair, were both in this year's Christmas play; Elvira hadn't started school yet, but she was enrolled for kindergarten starting the next year. Her aunts Molly and Klara were keeping Elvira for the evening, so as not to test the four-year-old's patience for sitting through a program she couldn't join.

 

Hidden Grove Elementary was where all of Nico's and Karolina's children had attended school during their childhoods, a small, quiet public school in a district just outside of Los Angeles. The overall experience with Hidden Grove had been surprisingly good for all involved, so good that Persephone, Lenore and Pandora had all made the decision to send their own children to the school as well. Gert and Chase had done the same, with their daughters Ada and Marie and their son Nikola all attending the school. Likewise, Molly's daughter Jessi had gone to Hidden Grove Elementary before moving up to the middle and now high school in the same district.

 

Alex had bucked the trend, as he often did, and he and Livvie had sent their son William and daughter Henrietta to Atlas Academy. Of all of the Runaways, Alex's time at Atlas had been relatively positive, and they admittedly did have fantastic computer and technology programs.

 

For Karolina, Atlas had never been an option. There had been too many memories of whispers behind her back, of pitying gazes from eyes that would immediately look away when her own eyes dared to meet them. The softly-spoken words _cult_ and _brainwashed_ that she heard behind her back nearly every day but never to her face. The way the other Atlas students had shied away from her, eventually not even bothering to talk to her, even when in a one-on-one situation with her.

 

Well.

 

That wasn't _entirely_ true.

 

One student had still possessed the courage to talk to her. And even if those remarks were cutting and acerbic, Karolina knew Nico had said those things to hurt herself as much as Karolina. And while that didn't make those pointed remarks right, to Karolina it did make them more understandable.

 

Nico had been hurting too, worse than any of them, and they had all ignored her pain, letting her suffer silently behind her mask of makeup, eyeliner and glower rather than reaching out to their friend. That remained one of Karolina's greatest regrets, just as Nico continued to feel guilt over some of the things she had said to Karolina when they were teenagers, before their worlds had been shattered (shattered _again_ , in Nico's case).

 

Karolina took her wife's hand, holding Nico's fingers in her own warm grasp and smiling when Nico squeezed her hand with the same light but obvious pressure. Those days of thoughtlessness were long behind them. They had spent over three decades righting those adolescent wrongs and loving and caring for one another, and they were never going to stop.

 

The rattling of the stage curtain and hum of the electric motor silenced the crowd, nearly exclusively composed of those old enough to have finished school or too young to have started.

 

A bump against her left knee had Nico already opening her mouth to give someone an earful, but her words stopped when she saw Gert's smiling face looking down at her.

 

“Hey,” Nico said, smiling up at their friend. Chase peered over Gert's shoulder, waving quickly before taking his seat. Gert, her hair now magenta fading to orange at the tips, did the same.

 

“Sorry we cut it so close,” Gert whispered as recorded music began to play from the auditorium's speakers. “ _Somebody_ had been working on one of the cars and had to take a shower before we could leave.”

 

“Surprised you didn't leave him at home,” Nico whispered back.

 

Gert leaned forward, giving a low wave to get Karolina's attention. “Hey, Karolina,” she loudly whispered.

 

The blonde grinned and waved back. “Hey, Gert, Chase,” she whispered.

 

“Hasn't anybody ever told you to be quiet during plays?” Nico asked Gert, the softness of her tone at contrast with her words.

 

“People tell me to be quiet all the time,” whispered Gert in reply. “I just ignore them.”

 

Nico nodded, then held out a fist for Gert to bump with her own. “Respect,” she said softly before turning her attention to the stage as the first children, dressed as trees and snowflakes, danced out of the wings.

 

The first act went fairly well, or at least as well as could be expected given that the actors were all in elementary school. Most of the lines were handled well, costumes were suitably adorable, and performances were endearing to the audience, composed almost entirely of family members of the students.

 

But as things would have have it, the two people having the worst experience of the entire audience happened to be seated directly behind Nico and Karolina.

 

“Such an amateurish production,” sneered the woman directly behind Karolina. “Could the costumes look any cheaper?”

 

Nico felt herself tense at the words, but she maintained her control.

 

“What do you expect from a group of public school students?” hissed the man beside her, not doing a very good job of keeping his voice down. “I'm _sure_ they have a diversity quota.”

 

At that, Nico turned her head just enough to give a nasty look to the man, who appeared to be around the same age as Nico and Karolina, early fifties. He was white, clean-shaven with hair that appeared to be dyed a dark brown, and he met Nico's glance with a look of haughty indifference.

 

A quick squeeze on her right thigh made Nico turn back around, meeting Karolina's intense gaze.

 

“Sweetheart,” Karolina whispered, her expression pleading. “Remember where we are.”

 

Nico didn't bother to conceal the ire in her dark brown eyes; Karolina knew Nico wasn't mad at her. “They're assholes,” Nico whispered, making sure that _her_ voice was inaudible to anyone other than her wife.

 

“They are,” Karolina whispered back. “But don't lower yourself to their level.”

 

Nico carefully stared at her wife for several seconds before acquiescing with a nod. Karolina smiled and took Nico's hand as they returned their attention to the play.

 

Not two minutes later, when one of the students forgot his lines and had to be prompted by a teacher standing in the wings, Nico and Karolina heard a sardonic laugh behind them.

 

“Jesus. How many weeks have they had to practice this?” hissed the man to his wife, drawing some irritated murmurs from other parents and grandparents around them.

 

“Not enough, apparently,” replied his wife, frosted blonde hair with a talk-to-your-manager cut and diamond necklace to go with her sneer and surgically-shortened nose. “Do they not still teach _English_ in schools today?”

 

Nico was already turned around in her seat before Karolina could stop her. “Hey,” she said to the snobby couple, her voice low but harsh as she shifted her glare between them both. “They're little kids. Stop being assholes.”

 

As Nico turned back around to watch the play again, she heard soft titters of laughter from other families behind her and to the sides as the snobbish man and woman silently fumed at the rebuke.

 

Then, several seconds later, Nico felt a sharp fingernail repeatedly jab into the back of her right shoulder to get her attention.

 

“I thought _your_ people were supposed to be polite!” the woman hissed as Nico whirled around, murder flashing in her brown eyes. “How dare you talk to—”

 

A soft snap of Nico's fingers was accompanied by a brief spark of pink light, matched by a soft pink outline briefly limning the man and woman as Nico's stasis spell froze them in their current positions, an angry scowl on the man's face and indignation on his wife's, her mouth still slightly open in a fairly unflattering expression.

 

Wordlessly Nico turned back around and settled into her seat again, reaching out to take Karolina's hand once more. Very soft applause and whispers of approval and delight could be heard in the rows behind them for a few seconds before everyone's focus returned to the children on stage once more.

 

(“You owe me five dollars,” Gert whispered to Chase, a smug grin on her face. “No bodily harm.”)

 

“Thank you,” Karolina whispered, turning to look at her wife, who was still adorable even when she was grumpy. As Nico turned to look at Karolina as well, the blonde leaned forward and lightly kissed Nico's lips.

 

“You're welcome,” replied the jet-haired woman as their lips softly parted, unable to keep her irritation from starting to fade as she looked at her extraordinary wife. Karolina smiled, close enough that Nico couldn't see the blonde's lips but instead had to read the subtle movements of her wife's eyes and forehead, and Nico was powerless to resist the joy that reflexively swelled within her heart whenever Karolina smiled.

 

They both turned back to the play.

 

“Brina's part is coming up,” Karolina whispered, squeezing Nico's hand warmly.

 

“Good. Not a big fan of these things.”

 

“I know,” Karolina said, shifting to lean a bit more against her wife.

 

“But I want to support the little bits.”

 

“I know.”

 

“And they really are cute as fuck in those little costumes.”

 

Karolina smiled a bit wider. “I know.”

 

They watched quietly as their granddaughter Sabrina and Gert and Chase's grandson Benjamin, both dressed as reindeer, walked onto the stage with several of their classmates. Karolina quickly took a few pictures with her compact camera, not using a flash and trying to be as unobtrusive as possible.

 

After she returned her camera to her lap, she looked down at the viewer, its image maximally dimmed.

 

Nico leaned a bit closer to Karolina, admiring the excellent photos her wife had taken. “Nice,” she said softly.

 

Karolina looked up, briefly glanced around the darkened auditorium, then returned her eyes to Nico. “Oh, Nico,” she whispered, a guilty expression on her face. “I just took pictures of a school play. We're _old,_ hon.”

 

Rather than reply verbally, Nico simply grinned that understated, indulgent grin she broke out only for Karolina.

 

“I mean,” Karolina continued, keeping her voice at the barest whisper, “we're sitting here in a school auditorium, taking pictures of our grandkids and admiring them. When did we become—“

 

Karolina paused, reconsidered what she was about to say, then smiled awkwardly. “Well, we _didn't_ become our parents, I guess,” she whispered to her wife.

 

“No, thank goddess,” answered Nico. “And if you're worried about us continuing to whisper, I already cast a silence spell around us so we're not assholes who ruin it for everyone else.”

 

Karolina's grin widened even more. “God, you're so good,” she said, letting her voice increase slightly now that she knew they weren't disrupting the play.

 

“Mmm, you'll be saying that again later tonight,” Nico said cockily.

 

“I better be. Twice. At least.”

 

A faux-shocked look spread across Nico's face. “So demanding,” she said teasingly.

 

Karolina simply continued to grin unabashedly. “I _am_ a princess, you know.”

 

The look on Nico's face was warm and soft as she breathed in softly, admiring Karolina's playful expression before the blonde spoke again.

 

“And you're _my_ princess, Nico. My grumpy goth princess.”

 

Nico sighed, but her smile never wavered. “I can live with that. For you.”

 

“Thank you,” Karolina said softly, staring into Nico's eyes as they both continued to smile at each other.

 

“Empress,” Nico added quietly, just above a whisper.

 

It was difficult not to laugh at the blush on Karolina's face, but Nico managed to maintain her self-control.

 

—O—

 

**FIVE YEARS LATER**

 

As the Wizard board of directors meeting was ready to begin, Persephone Dean took a look around the large conference room.

 

Nearly half of Wizard's board of directors were women. Over half of the board were black, Latinx or Asian. Several were openly gay, bisexual or queer. For trans employees, if an employee identified and lived as a woman or man, that employee was treated as such, and Wizard's insurance covered the costs of transitioning for any employee's covered family members. Birth control both pharmaceutical and surgical was covered one-hundred-percent under employee benefits, and Wizard was one of the largest contributors to Planned Parenthood in the country. It was a different picture than most large corporations, and Persephone was intensely proud to be part of the company her grandparents had built and her moms had made even more remarkable.

 

The opening of the main doors to the conference room instantly stilled the whispered conversations that had been taking place around the large ebony wood table. Nico Dean swept into the expansive room, her long black dress's lacy skirt swirling around her lower legs as she walked the length of the room, quickly moving to the head of the ebony-wood table. The long sleeves of her dress were see-through black mesh, covering the long black lace gloves that covered her hands and most of her forearms. Nico's hair had been pulled up into two elaborate braids that had been coiled atop her head until the ends of the braids spilled out to the sides, each braid hanging down several centimeters.

 

Persephone struggled not to laugh at the way every other person in the boardroom watched Nico stride confidently along the room, eyes fixed on Wizard's chief executive officer and chair of the board with varying combinations of awe, respect and fear. Her mama was easily the smallest, shortest person in the room, only barely taller than a few of the directors while they were seated, but there was no doubt who was in charge at Wizard.

 

As Nico took her place at the head of the large table, she let her nonplussed gaze sweep across the room, starting at her near left and slowly moving to meet the faces of every person present, ending with Persephone, seated at Nico's near right. For her oldest daughter, Nico gave a hint of a smile before returning her attention to the board as a whole and her expression to a cool stare.

 

“Well, we haven't sucked this month,” Nico said by way of starting the meeting, drawing a few soft laughs from the directors who had served the longest, nearly forty years in one case, and thus knew their sardonic CEO quite well.

 

Nico's management style was both reminiscent of her parents' approaches as well as clearly her own. She commanded a fearful respect (which had slightly increased after her identity as the Avenger Sister Grimm had become public several years ago) and ran a structured board, but she wasn't afraid to interject her dark humor and deeply-felt humanity into her decisions and discussions.

 

“Let's start with the most important stuff first,” Nico said, looking across the large table. “People.”

 

As the large holographic display over the middle of the table flashed to light, smaller individual displays activated in front of each seat, indicating the charitable distributions that Wizard had made over the last month, the last quarter and the last year.

 

Nico had reviewed all the information for the meeting ahead of time; she made sure every department head gave her a personal report at least twice a week, sometimes sooner, and she made a point to visit each department in Wizard's headquarters weekly. She and Karolina also continued their trips to every Wizard branch twice a year, which not only kept them personally connected with each division, it also served as mini-vacations for just the two of them. That practice remained so well-received throughout Wizard that Persephone and her wife Gloriana had started doing it as well.

 

By now it was well-established that Persephone was going to be Nico's successor as the driving force behind Wizard. Lenore was much more occupied (and happy) with the mystical world than she was with the corporate realm, and Pandora was happy with managing the Gibborim organization, focusing less on it as a religion and more as a spiritual and philosophical way of life, and maintaining strong ties to Majesdane and its people. All of their daughters were happy with their chosen career paths, and that made their mothers happy in turn.

 

Truthfully, Nico had understood why it had taken Persephone several years to overcome her long-standing reluctance to taking more involvement in Wizard. After all, Nico had felt much the same way, preferring to remain mostly silent at board meetings for years as she watched others manage the day-to-day operations of the corporation her parents had built and she had inherited. But as she grew increasingly uncomfortable with decisions made solely to generate profit and investor dividends at the cost of the company's employees and the environment itself, Nico found herself speaking more and more in opposition to such ideas. Several times she used her and Karolina's majority shares to force Wizard in one direction as opposed to a more profitable option, flatly stating that she wanted the company her family had built to stand for more than just profiteering and greed.

 

Persephone was fully on board with her mama's vision for Wizard, and she was determined to make sure that the corporation continued the changes Nico had made, deliberately investing more into the company and its workers' pay and benefits at the cost of cutting profits. They remained profitable—Nico made sure of that—but they no longer pursued maximal profits as their overriding goal.

 

“Absolutely not!” Nico snapped at one board member, yanking Persephone's thoughts back into the present; one of the board members had started to argue for reducing employee benefits at Wizard facilities in states with higher premiums for health insurance.

 

“B-but we need to lower our contributions to the rising health care premiums this year,” the startled man, one of the newest members of the board, protested.

 

Nico leaned over the table, only barely resisting the urge to climb up on the sleek ebony surface and storm down to the man arguing with her. (She had done it a time or two.)

 

“Insurance premiums go up every year!” Nico snapped. “And the asshole insurance companies cut benefits every year! That's what they do, because all THEY care about is increasing profits! That's why Wizard is NOT going to act like assholes! Looking at numbers over the last five years, we can easily absorb the increased cost of contributing to employee insurance benefits at a higher rate to keep the employee share of the insurance premiums static for another year, _and_ we can do it while only taking a small dip in profits!”

 

“But it's still a drop in profits,” the man continued, looking increasingly uneasy; his unease visibly increased as the _clomp_ of heeled boots on the ebony wood table swiftly moved in his direction.

 

Nico stopped before she was standing directly in front of the man, who looked like he was in his early to mid-thirties. And possibly about to have a stroke.

 

“Don't you dare say the word _shareholders_ ,” the petite woman said coldly as she fixed the sweating man with her angry gaze. “Because my wife and I ARE the fucking shareholders! Over seventy percent of them! And WE say that we're good with the dip in profits to take better care of our employees, and that decision is FINAL!”

 

The man had turned pale and was pressing himself back into his seat as far as he could go.

 

Nico maintained angry eye contact with him for a few seconds before she straightened back up and looked around the room.

 

“The most important resource we have as people are our children,” she began. “The most important resource a company has are its employees. We ARE going to take care of our employees, so they can take care of themselves and their families!”

 

She paused and looked down at Persephone, back at one end of the large ebony table. “I want Wizard to take care of its employees because I respect and appreciate them. They helped build this company just like my parents did, and my parents didn't do the heavy lifting. The rest of Wizard did.”

 

Nico returned her gaze to the shaken man, who was starting to regain some of his regular coloration. “We take care of our employees here,” Nico said, more calm than moments before. “And that's not going to change as long as I'm here.”

 

Nico looked at Persephone again. “And it sure as hell better not change after I'm gone, or I'll come back and haunt you,” she said to her daughter, getting a surprised laugh from a few of the board members seated along the massive table.

 

 _She just might do it, too,_ Persephone thought proudly to herself.

 

For being such a small size, her mama left some damn big boots to fill. But Persephone was determined—and honored—to do it.

 

—O—

 

Placed carefully on one wall of the bedroom Karolina and Nico had shared for over thirty years were two paired paintings. Each was the same size of canvas, eleven inches by fourteen inches, and the paintings had been arranged beside each other, measured and aligned so that they hung at exactly the same height.

 

That was essentially where the similarities ended.

 

The panel on the viewer's left was full of brilliant colors, pink and yellow and orange and purple swirled together, thin brushstrokes readily evident with close inspection but at a distance easily lost in the brilliance of the colors and their interplay. Seemingly carved out of the riot of colors were ebony letters, masked with tape prior to the application of the bright colors but after the canvas had been primed with a deep black. As such, the exposed letters arranged neatly in the midst of the swirl of vivid colors were a deep, jet black, spelling out a single world: PRINCESS.

 

The second painting, hanging to the viewer's right, had been thickly covered with different shades of black, ranging from a glossy black to a flat Blackest Black that absorbed nearly all the light that fell upon it. The brushstrokes on this canvas were much thicker than the ones on its counterpart centimeters away, forming a third dimension of shape and texture that rose and fell almost topographically.

 

But even in this ocean of ebon and jet, color managed to break through. Arranged on this canvas just as its counterpart, letters were visible, carved out of the thick waves and peaks of black to reveal rich pink proudly spelling out PRINCESS, albeit in a slightly more irregular font than on the other canvas.

 

The two paintings had been a gift from Lydia and Coraline, the oldest of their grandchildren, for Nico and Karolina's most recent anniversary, and the doting grandmothers were incredibly proud of them ( _them_ encompassing the paintings as well as the two rapidly growing girls who had painted the canvases).

 

Karolina's blue eyes proudly examined the paintings as she lay in bed with Nico, who was still asleep this early in the morning. The smaller woman's arms were wrapped around Karolina's torso as they lay in bed, the tip of Nico's nose and her lips brushing against the back of Karolina's head.

 

There was no denying that Karolina was Nico's teddy bear, just as Nico was the blonde's security blanket, wrapping her in delicious warmth and comfort.

 

“Mmm,” Karolina softly murmured as her right hand came up to gently cover Nico's right hand, which was sleepily cupping Karolina's bare left breast. She smiled as she pressed Nico's palm more securely against the sensitive skin, leaving her own hand atop her wife's to maintain the slightly increased pressure.

 

“Not sure which one of us is copping the feel,” Nico drowsily mumbled against Karolina's mussed hair, the heat of the smaller woman's breath brushing against the blonde's skin.

 

“You,” Karolina replied softly, smiling as she closed her eyes to focus on the warmth and sensation of her wife's touch all along their bodies. “Always you.”

 

“Can you blame me?” Nico murmured, now placing soft kisses on the back of Karolina's head.

 

“Not in the least,” replied Karolina, who was so happy at that very moment that her skin flared into bright pink light.

 

Nico smiled as her eyes closed reflexively at the sudden brightness; she could still perceive Karolina's radiance through her closed eyelids as well as feel the warmth against her own body. “Love it when you light up because you're happy,” she said gently, moving her face so that her lips were closer to Karolina's ear.

 

Karolina moved her right leg slightly, smoothly gliding against Nico's skin; their lower legs were interlaced like their fingers atop Karolina's breast, and the gentle motion of Karolina's leg made Nico likewise shift her own legs just a bit in response.

 

Karolina made no attempt to turn off her radiance, letting her body do what it wanted in Nico's arms, because it was in her wife's arms that she knew she would always be protected and accepted, no matter what was going on in their lives.

 

Any time Karolina had been ashamed of who she was, of _what_ she was, Nico had been right there, never pulling away, never treating Karolina like she was anything other than the woman she devotedly loved.

 

No, the only times Nico had ever pulled away had been times when Nico was ashamed of who _she_ was, of what _she_ had done or had proven capable of doing. And it was those times that had taught Karolina that sometimes she needed to be the one to wrap her arms around her quiet, introverted lover and refuse to let go, even when Nico tried to wall herself off out of some well-meaning but misguided fear of hurting Karolina.

 

One of them had to be the one to step forward and extend an arm across the gap when it threatened to grow between them. Sometimes that was Karolina. Sometimes it was Nico. But the truth of the matter was that both of them were quite capable of overthinking matters, of being too stubborn and too self-sacrificing for their own good.

 

They were heroes, but they were still human. Feelings were going to get hurt, tempers were going to flare. Mistakes would be made. But those mistakes, though definitely painful, would be unintentional, never a deliberate infliction of pain or betrayal of the love and bond between them, and that made all the difference.

 

Flared tempers would cool. Hurt feelings would heal. What ran deeper than those emotional abrasions was the depth of the feelings Karolina and Nico held for each other. That was the strength that allowed them to face their own fears, to persevere beyond pummeled egos, to refrain from personal attacks or insults when they disagreed and tempers flared, to be a source of unshakable strength when their own failings and fallacies attempted to drive a wedge between the two of them.

 

Being married was hard work. Not killing each other or walking out was even harder. But Nico and Karolina held love and respect for each other above all other emotions or feelings, and that was what helped them weather the hardest times, knowing that they had each other no matter what else the universe threw their way.

 

Nico's soft murmur of contentment against the back of Karolina's neck made the tall blonde tingle all over and the pink light suffusing her skin pulse more brightly.

 

She smiled and fought the urge to press her head back more tightly against her wife's face; she had accidentally hit Nico's nose that way more than once over the years, and it was not a pleasant beginning to any morning. Instead she just focused on how loved she felt at that very moment, with Nico's arms and legs wrapped around her in a tactile demonstration of how much they wanted to be together.

 

“We have to get up and get ready soon,” Karolina finally said, a hint of displeasure in her words, and her bodily glow dimmed slightly at the thought of having to leave Nico's arms. “Saturday lessons.”

 

“Yeah,” Nico sighed in reply. “I love doing them, but I really don't want to let you go right now.”

 

“Well, nothing says we can't lie back down afterward.”

 

Nico's lips pressed against the back on Karolina's head. “Smart _and_ beautiful,” the smaller woman said softly. “No wonder I love you.”

 

Karolina slightly turned her body so she could look over her shoulder at her wife. She confidently said, “You love me for lots more reasons than just those two. I'm pretty amazing.”

 

A loud shriek from somewhere downstairs made both of them sit up. When the aggrieved cry of a teenage girl followed, Karolina laughed silently as Nico leaned forward and hugged the blonde from behind.

 

“Oh, god,” Karolina mumbled into her pillow. “These grandkids. Winter Solstice weekend is getting too big to have here.”

 

“Ours are plenty by themselves,” Nico agreed, her lips pressing against Karolina's golden hair. “Throw in Gert and Chase's grandkids plus Alex and Livvie's, and we're up to a dozen teens and preteens raising hell around here. Plus Jessi.”

 

“Jessi's pretty well-behaved, though.”

 

“Which is a damn good thing, considering she could throw her cousins farther than they could walk back.”

 

Karolina laughed, prompting a happy squeeze of Nico's arm wrapped around her as the blonde's body shook with amusement.

 

“So what's your bet on who's going at it this morning?” Nico asked her wife.

 

“Mmm, who all's here so far?” Karolina asked as she started to mentally cycle through the extended families of the Runaways, as the original six still thought of themselves even after nearly forty years.

 

“All the grandkids except Jessi. Mol and Klara should be by later today with her; she had an early soccer game this morning.”

 

“That's a lot to choose from as to who's yelling downstairs.”

 

“Yep. Got your work cut out for you.”

 

“Maybe we should stay in bed today. Pretend they're not here.”

 

“That'd work for about an hour, then we'd have a little swarm of multicolored munchkins knocking our door down.”

 

The thought of that image made Karolina laugh, until a prolonged crash was heard downstairs, followed by another angry shout.

 

“Now they're breaking shit,” Nico added calmly. “Still no guess?”

 

“Mmm, I'd guess Lydia and Izzy. Lydia's fifteen, she and Iz are the same age, _and_ the two of them have been snapping at each other since Etta and Jeff got here yesterday,” Karolina said. “I'm guessing it's them getting more frustrated, butting heads and about to fight.”

 

Nico laughed once, then she kissed Karolina on the blonde's shoulder as she stretched her arms high over her head, taking care not to hit Karolina in the head. “They're about to do _something_ , but I don't think it's fight,” she said, her voice tight as her arms stretched.

 

Karolina whirled around. “You think—”

 

Nico nodded, unable to talk momentarily until she finished her stretch with a satisfied groan. “Lydia's into girls. Persy and Glory already told us that, and really, no surprise there, given her moms and grandmas. Kid comes by it naturally. _And_ Izzy's bi.”

 

“When did you hear that?”

 

“Livvie told us when we went to dinner with her and Alex and Molly and Klara a couple months back.”

 

Karolina frowned. “I don't remember that.”

 

Nico nodded. “Yeah, she told us. Iz had come out to Etta and Jeff first, then to Livvie and Alex, and she gave all of them her permission to tell the rest of the extended fam. Plus both Lydia and Iz are teenagers stewing in hormones, they're both cute, and they're being thrown together staying in the Hostel for the next few days. If we're not careful they'll be fucking before the weekend's over.”

 

“Dammit,” swore Karolina softly. She sighed and looked up at the large skylight in their room, then her blue eyes shifted back down to look at her wife. “Our grandkids are old enough to be thinking about sex, Nico.”

 

“Yeah,” Nico replied sadly.

 

“We're getting _old_ , hon.”

 

Nico nodded again. “Yeah,” she said once more, this time more wistfully than sad. “There is one bright spot, though.”

 

A shy smile creeped onto Karolina's lips. “Yeah? What's that?”

 

“We don't have to be the ones who talk to them about sex.”

 

“Oh, thank _god_ ,” Karolina said gleefully, falling backward onto the bed beside Nico.

 

Another crash followed by a more prolonged howl came from downstairs, then what sounded like muffled cheers and shouts.

 

“They're tearing our house apart,” Karolina said, turning her head to look at the woman she still loved wholeheartedly.

 

“Probably racing dinosaurs,” Nico replied, turning her head as well to look at her wife. “Hedy's big enough to ride, easy. She's slow, but she can plow through damn near anything. Goes with being an anklyosaur, I guess.”

 

Karolina thought for a moment. “I could see that, but who else could they ride? They can't ride Sunny because of his fin. And his personality. Or Roger, because of his dorsal plates.” (Sunny was the often ill-tempered dimetrodon and Roger a very laid-back stegosaurus; Gert enjoyed the challenge of mastering the genetic and biochemical engineering of different varieties of dinosaurs.)

 

Nico smiled. “Bettie,” she said, confidently, naming the triceratops, one of everyone's favorites due to her sweet, friendly nature. “You can get up on her back and tuck right behind her crest.”

 

“Huh,” Karolina replied, looking up at the ceiling as she considering what her wife was saying. “Wonder who—”

 

Nico guiltily looked away just as Karolina's head turned to look at the dark-haired witch again, a nearly synchronized pair of movements.

 

“Nico!” the blonde said with a mixture of shock and delight. “Are you serious?!”

 

Despite them both still lying on their bed, Nico shrugged. “Chase mentioned something about trying dinosaur races one day,” she admitted. “It... sounded like a good idea.”

 

Karolina's hand came up to cover her mouth, which was wide open with glee. “Nico! We're fifty-seven years old! We shouldn't be _riding_ dinosaurs, let alone racing them!”

 

Nico looked back over, meeting Karolina's bright eyes. “I won,” she said proudly.

 

Still grinning, Karolina reached over and lovingly ran her fingers through Nico's messy jet hair. “I'm so proud of my wife. Even when she acts like a six-year-old.”

 

“A six-year-old who beat Chase's ass.”

 

“Of course.”

 

—O—

 

Karolina used to thoroughly dislike sports. She still did, to an extent, especially when it came to competing in them herself.

 

But Nico would be the first to say that martial arts weren't sports. They were discipline. They were fitness and confidence and conditioning. They were aligning the body, the mind and the spirit.

 

So over the years Karolina had let Nico talk her into taking lessons in _aikido_ and _judo_ , as long as Nico was the teacher. And while Karolina still wasn't _entirely_ focused on the lessons, she had managed to learn some things in between moments of getting handsy with her wife, and she would readily admit that she had grown to enjoy spending this time with Nico. Nico always taught her one-on-one, just the two of them, and once they found the right balance of affection and seriousness that worked for Karolina's lessons, things fell into place. Her body and mind did indeed feel better after working out with Nico, the activity helped them stay active and in shape, and she had legitimately learned how to fall properly, how to fight and how to protect herself without her powers.

 

Getting to watch Nico teach kids was just an adorable added bonus.

 

Nico saw no need to adjust her sartorial style while teaching martial arts, so she was wearing her usual black _gi_ top and pants with her black belt tied around her waist, nearly vanishing into the other dark garments. Her inky hair was currently put up in a messy bun, though a few springs of her jet hair were already starting to escape thanks to the movement and exertion of teaching first Karolina, then her class of teenagers. Even without her usual makeup, Nico certainly didn't look to be nearing the age of sixty, thanks to regular exercise and the magic flowing through her.

 

As Karolina sat lotus-style on the mat, wearing her favorite pale rose pink _gi_ , she continued to watch Nico as she ran her current class of twelve- through fifteen-year-olds through their _aikido_ lesson. Karolina had never officially tested for a belt, choosing to wear a yellow belt because she liked the bright, happy color and because Nico agreed that she had easily met the minimum requirements for that particular belt, which made the blonde very happy. She and Nico had already done their own exercises together prior to Nico's class starting, and the blonde happily rested on the mat as Nico worked with her next class. The quiet time let Karolina focus on letting her heart rate slow down, her thoughts unwind and her spirit rise as the adrenaline and endorphins from the physical activity continued to work their own kind of magic on her body.

 

Then footsteps next to her on the mat disrupted her relaxing vibe.

 

She pointedly didn't look as she heard a man groan slightly as he settled into a seated position on the mat beside her.

 

Which was annoying.

 

Karolina specifically sat on the other side of the large _dojo_ , opposite where the parents of Nico's students waited, just so she didn't feel obligated to make small talk or participate in gossip among the mixed crowd of women and men.

 

So if someone sat down beside her, it was because he or she had very deliberately walked across the dojo for no other purpose than to interact with her. The bathrooms were in the middle of the dojo, so this guy sitting down beside her had to pass by them to get to her.

 

She managed to resist the urge to sigh. Well, it _had_ been a slow day. This could at least be amusing.

 

And Nico showing off was still irresistible.

 

“Hey!” said the overly friendly voice beside her. “I'm Dave.”

 

Karolina smoothly turned to face him, smiling in her default pleasant demeanor. “I'm married,” she replied sweetly.

 

The man was younger, notably so, in his late twenties to early thirties. He was wearing a worn off-white _gi_ with a brown belt and had short, straight sandy brown hair, a hint of stubble on his face and chin, and a smile that was certainly pleasant, at the very least.

 

Without missing a beat, he replied, “Divorced, for me,” then he turned his attention back to where Nico was showing one of her older students the proper way to grip an attacker in preparation for the throw she was teaching them tonight. “Well, in the process of a divorce,” he amended as he looked back at Karolina, entirely missing Nico's eyes darting over to assess her wife's situation.

 

“So you're still married but trying to hit on women?” Karolina responded, not looking at the man and instead meeting Nico's eyes as the smaller woman's gaze focused on Karolina, then flicked over to the man beside her briefly before returning to Karolina.

 

“What makes you think I'm hitting on you?” he replied, amusement in his voice.

 

Karolina sighed as Nico returned her attention to the next student. She had been wrong. This wasn't the least bit fun at this point. “You had to walk all the way across the dojo to sit down right next to me, when there's absolutely no one else over here but me.”

 

“My class just let out,” Dave said, jerking his thumb in the direction of an adult class three mats down, most of whom had already filed out by now. “And in my defense, you're not wearing a wedding ring.”

 

Karolina glanced down at her left ring finger, which only appeared bare at the moment because she had shifted her wedding band into the astral plane for class, just like Nico did with her matching ring, both simple silvery bands of cobalt. To those skilled in astral perception, the connection between their enchanted wedding bands was visible, a pale silver thread running parallel to the thin red thread that was tied to and ran between their adjacent little fingers. “You're supposed to take your wedding band off for class, you know. Or you would, if you still wore yours, since you _are_ still legally married. But not wearing a ring still doesn't make a woman, or a man for that matter, an open target for unwanted advances, and I clearly do _not_ want any advances made upon me.”

 

Dave paused for a bit, but his smile didn't dim. “I think we got off on the wrong foot. How about we start fresh?”

 

“How about we not?” replied Karolina, leaning back and stretching her arms back behind her to hold herself up. Her gaze drifted up to the tiled ceiling as she mentally willed Dave to go away before things escalated.

 

“You know, if your husband realized how beautiful you were, he wouldn't let you out of his sight,” Dave said, still looking at Karolina.

 

“Okay, that's both creepy and incredibly offensive, on several levels,” she replied, still looked up at the ceiling. She was about to expound upon her statement when a loud _WHOOMPH_ came from directly in front of them, startling them both as the mats shook with the impact of a body hitting the ground.

 

The teenage girl flat on her back on the large blue mat took in a few deep breaths as she lay there, her chest rising and falling until a scowling Nico leaned down over her, extending her right arm for the girl to take. Nico gave Dave a piercing glare as she helped the girl haul herself to her bare feet once more.

 

“You good?” Nico asked the girl, whose chestnut brown ponytail bobbed as she nodded affirmatively. As the girl started walking back to the other side of the large mat, where the rest of Nico's class was situated, Nico took a moment to give Karolina a questioning look.

 

The blonde slightly inclined her head in Dave's direction and mouthed the word _asshole_ to her wife. She very nearly laughed when she saw the flare of recognition in Nico's dark eyes, followed by a very subtle nod from the smaller woman before she turned around and stalked back toward the others.

 

“She seems very intense,” Dave said, watching Nico walk away. “Does she only teach kids?”

 

“Sometimes she'll do an adult class, but it's usually just teenagers and younger kids.” Talking about Nico was something Karolina didn't mind doing, as opposed to talking about herself. “She tends to get frustrated with adults more easily.”

 

Dave nodded. “She gives up a lot in the reach department, too. Sparring with adults would put her at more of a disadvantage.”

 

Karolina turned to look at the younger man, a look of mild disbelief on her face. Not two weeks ago Nico had fought an Asgardian _disir_ , one of Hela's fallen valkyrie, giving up half a meter in height and reach and over a hundred kilograms in mass; it had taken Nico less than thirty seconds to lop off the spirit's two forearms before banishing her back to Helheim.

 

“Her form's seriously good, though,” Dave continued, not seeing Karolina's disbelieving look as he continued to study Nico as she let one of the older boys in the class throw her as part of him learning the new movements.

 

“I”ll say,” Karolina mumbled to herself, unable to keep her look of mild shock from shifting to a more pleased expression as she considered just how good Nico's _form_ was.

 

“Quick, efficient, clean with her movements,” the man continued, sounding increasingly impressed as he watched Nico send that same teenage boy, significantly taller than her, sprawling to the mat. “Man. She really knows what she's doing. Maybe I should see if she has any upcoming classes for adults,” the man continued.

 

“Maybe you should,” Karolina replied, now nearly laughing.

 

—O—

 

“ _Who's that dickhead?”_ Lydia Chavez-Dean asked her sister Coraline in Spanish as they scoped out the man who had plopped himself down next to their grandmother Karolina, sitting on the other side of the large mat Nico was using for her class.

 

Coraline adjusted the soft hair tie holding her medium length auburn hair, the same color as her sister but cut into a fade on one side with longer hair on the other, as she scrutinized the man who was rather obliviously trying to chat with a nonplussed Karolina.

 

Cori wrinkled her nose with subtle distaste. _“Somebody who's going to get his ass kicked, if he's not careful,”_ she whispered back to her sister, still in Spanish.

 

“ _Oh, I think careful's long gone,”_ whispered Lydia back.

 

“ _Well, NiNi_ is _still beautiful, so he's got good taste. Never seen the guy before, though.”_

 

“ _Probably never going to see him again after_ Obaa _gets done with him,”_ Lydia whispered back, grinning and nearly making her sister laugh out loud.

 

“Lydia,” Nico said crisply, commanding their attention once more to where the jet-haired woman stood two meters in front of them, her brown eyes fixed upon them. “Come demonstrate this throw, please,” the smaller woman said, her tone making it clear her words were a command, not a question.

 

“ _Hai, sensei_ ,” Lydia spoke quickly, her long hair pulled back into a high ponytail that swayed as she got to her feet, hoping that her _obaa_ wasn't too irritated at that moron trying to flirt with their NiNi just yet.

 

—O—

 

“So which one is your kid?”

 

Karolina looked over at Dave. “Excuse me?” she asked as Nico walked Lydia to the center of the mat, where they moved into position before Nico rushed at Lydia, letting the fifteen-year-old grab her sleeve and shoulder and throw her to the mat.

 

“I mean, you're watching this kids' class, so I figure at least one of them is yours,” he answered calmly. “Want me to guess?” he added, smiling again.

 

“Not really, no.”

 

“I'd guess the blonde boy down at the end, on the right.”

 

Karolina laughed once. “Oh my god, not even close,” she said, incredulous. “I have three granddaughters in this class, one of whom just made that very nice throw whose name I don't remember.”

 

“Granddaughters? Wow.”

 

“Yeah. Granddaughters. I'm officially old. And _still_ off the market.”

 

“Well, you certainly don't look like a grandma. Not in the least.”

 

“Not fishing for compliments here.”

 

“You don't need to.”

 

“Look, you're starting to—”

 

“EXCUSE ME.”

 

The sharp tone and raised volume of the statement made both Karolina and Dave look up to see a glowering Nico standing over them. She wasn't exactly _towering_ over them despite her close proximity, as she wasn't that much taller even with the other two seated, but there was a clear aura of menace in her glower.

 

“I'd like to demonstrate a few advanced techniques to my students,” Nico said, glaring down at the younger man. “You're a _much_ better choice to demonstrate them on, if you don't mind to help?”

 

“I might not be your ideal test subject,” Dave said, his expression light. “I mean, I'm a lot taller than you and have more reach.”

 

“Oh, you'll hit the ground just fine,” Nico replied confidently. “Did your earn your brown belt around here? I don't recognize you.”

 

“No, I just moved here from Phoenix. I have a brown belt in _aikido_ , but I'm actually a _dan_ in Shotokan karate.”

 

“Oh, nice,” Nico replied, realizing that she wouldn't need to hold back quite as much.

 

“When did you get your black belt?” asked Dave, motioning to Nico's belt as he got to his feet.

 

“For _aikido_ , when I was fifteen,” Nico smoothly replied, stepping to the side and gesturing for Dave to go first toward the larger mat. As he walked past her, she added, “It was my third,” smiling ominously behind his back. Nico looked back at Karolina and her smile widened.

 

 _You are so bad_ , the blonde mouthed to her wife.

 

 _You love it_ , Nico mouthed back, ending the sentence by blowing a quick kiss to the blonde.

 

Across the mat, Lydia, Coraline and twelve-year-old Blair, who was also in the current class, had figured out what was about to go down, and the three of them nearly quivered with giddy anticipation.

 

—O—

 

“And you're not hurt _too_ badly?” Nico asked as she double-checked Dave's leg, making sure it wasn't broken.

 

“It's fine, really,” the somewhat battered younger man said where he lay on his back, unable to keep the grin off his face after learning just who had been throwing him around the mat for the last fifteen minutes. He was surprisingly ebullient despite hurting pretty much all over his body. “God! I just got my ass kicked by an _Avenger_! I can't believe it!”

 

“Avengers _reserve_. And I don't like it when people try to hit on my wife,” Nico said calmly as she finished her examination and let the pink glow around her hands fade out.

 

“And I totally was,” Dave admitted. He turned to look at Karolina, hovering over him and Nico where he lay and she knelt on the large blue mat. “I apologize for that, by the way,” he said up to the blonde.

 

“Apology accepted,” Karolina replied lightly. “And lesson learned, I think.”

 

Dave nodded as Nico stood, then she extended an arm down to help the much taller man to his feet. “Oh, lesson very much learned,” he admitted as he stood, a bit shakily. He looked back down at Nico. “As is the lesson about reach advantage being overcome by vastly superior skill.”

 

Nico actually blushed a bit, which Karolina thought was so adorable that she wanted to pick Nico up and hug her, though the blonde had enough control to not embarrass her wife in front of two dozen teenagers eagerly watching the exchange.

 

“Cockiness is something we all have to work on,” Nico spoke calmly. “There's always someone better, and it's usually the person you least expect it to be. You're sure your leg's okay?”

 

Dave tested putting more weight on his right leg first before shifting all his weight to it, getting only a twinge of discomfort in the knee. “It's good,” he said. “Going to be sore all over for the next few days, though. You're definitely stronger than you look.”

 

“Nico likes to say that the discipline and focus on aligning the body, mind and spirit help with channeling magic,” Karolina said, having heard her wife's explanation many times. She stepped over and put her arm around the woman she loved.

 

“And stay in shape and flexible,” added the black-haired woman, looking up at her wife. “Which is important at our age.”

 

“Pffft,” Karolina sputtered as she lightly blew out her breath before turning to face Nico. She lifted her arms and draped them across her wife's shoulders, locking her hands together behind Nico's neck. “We're in our fifties, but we still have some years ahead of us, hon. _And_ you still make my heart race, especially when you're tossing around people twice your size and half your age.” Karolina's face leaned down closer to Nico as she spoke, ending with the tall blonde lightly kissing the tip of her wife's nose.

 

A few titters of barely-suppressed laughter behind them reminded the two women of their audience. Now Karolina blushed as well.

 

“Why don't you finish up your class, sweetheart,” Karolina said, face burning slightly. She turned around quickly enough to catch Lydia whispering something to Coraline; the two sisters instantly snapped back to regular sitting positions.

 

“Not a word, Lyd,” Karolina teased the brunette, whose skin tone was closer to her mom Gloriana than to the fairer-skinned Persephone. Lydia's vivid brown eyes were definitely Persephone's, though, while the younger Coraline's eyes were hazel like their other mother. “Or I'll spill the beans on what you and a _certain other person_ were doing at the movies last weekend.”

 

“NiNi!” gasped the fifteen-year-old, at once turning even more red than her grandmother. Coraline and Blair both laughed aloud, with Cori playfully pushing her big sister's shoulder.

 

Karolina simply raised an eyebrow as she held the teenager's shocked mahogany gaze, an expression of amusement on the blonde's face. “Behave,” Karolina said calmly, the hint of a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

 

“Yes, NiNi,” the older teen grumbled, lightly pushing Cori back, getting a soft titter of laughter from their cousin on the other side of Coraline.

 

(Sabrina was currently on Majesdane with her moms and dad as part of a PRIDE trip, or she'd have been right in the middle of the teasing, as that had become one of her specialties.)

 

“How _is_ Izzy?” whispered Blair to her cousins, only to be immediately shushed by Lydia, who somehow turned even more red in the face.

 

—O—

 

As the bright light of the interstellar portal illuminated the large room in the secure WIZARD facility, Karolina, Nico and Blair all stood a few meters away from the transit platform while Persephone used her indigo light to power the portal device from the Majesdanian side.

 

The first figure to step through the swirling light of the portal was running more than walking, a taller teenager with long blonde hair who still looked eerily like her mother Pandora and grandmother Karolina had as a teenager. “ _Obaa-chan_! NiNi!” Sabrina exclaimed gleefully, running into the arms of her proud grandmas.

 

“Brina!” Karolina shouted back as she wrapped her arms around the young teen who was nearly as tall as she was.

 

“Damn, you're even taller,” Nico said by way of greeting as she likewise hugged Sabrina, wrapping one arm around Pandora's oldest and the other arm around Karolina.

 

“Maybe you're just shorter,” teased the teenager, getting a snort from Nico and a giggle from Karolina.

 

“Gone two weeks and already talking shit about your poor _obaa_ ,” Nico grumbled. “Some respect I get.”

 

Another set of arms tried to wrap around the small gathering as Blair pressed against her older sister's back. “Welcome back, sis,” said the redhead. “Missed you.”

 

Sabrina knew there was no extricating herself from the arms of her grandmothers, so she leaned her head back carefully to press it against Blair's forehead. “I missed you, too, meanness,” she said lovingly. “Did you stay out of trouble while we were gone?”

 

“Yep,” replied the younger sister. “Well, kind of. Nothing too bad.”

 

“She broke the railing at the Hostel,” Nico clarified.

 

“Which I also fixed!” Blair quickly added.

 

“And she kept Bumbles from getting hurt by catching him before they hit the ground,” Karolina said.

 

“But she shouldn't have been riding Bumbles inside the Hostel, much less racing her sister. That's how shit gets broken.” Nico leaned her head and looked up at Karolina, who was having none of it.

 

“And I wonder who might have inspired these kids to race the dinosaurs in the first place, hmm?” Karolina calmly replied, meeting her wife's dark brown gaze.

 

Only her excellent self-control kept Nico from squirming. “Chase was to blame, too.”

 

“Uh huh.”

 

“It was his idea, remember. That first time.”

 

“And you went along with it.”

 

Sabrina turned her head slightly to whisper to her sister, “I've missed this,” grinning at the loving interaction between her grandmothers as the rest of her family began to emerge from the swirling light of the interstellar portal.

 

“It's cute as shit,” Blair whispered back. She had definitely expanded her vocabulary after two weeks with her grandmothers. Especially her _obaa_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for this chapter taking so long to post. This was due to a combination of flu season at work, which has kept me hopping for three months, and the fact that this was a bit of an impromptu chapter that I hadn't originally planned. I wanted to add a bit more interaction with the granddaughters before wrapping up this story with the final chapter. I also wanted a more light-hearted chapter after the weight of the previous chapter.
> 
> Next chapter this story ends, and I'm both happy and sad about that. I'll be working on a new story compliant with Season 3, but it'll be different than this one, which I want to let stand on its own. I've really grown to love all these characters, and it's going to feel like something's missing to me when I start a different Nico/Karolina story, but I really would like to have a canon-complaint story that picks up after season three. That had been my goal with this story, but things just didn't work out that way, and that's okay. This is what we have fanfic for, to take a look at what could have been as part of showing our love for characters and their relationships.
> 
> Thank you again for reading, and I'll see you one more time for the end of this story!


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